GEG To Use $2.8 Million VALE Grant To Install PCAs, GPUs

July 30, 2012
Airport officials are already planning a second phase that will include electric GSE and other alternative energy power sources

July 30--Spokane International Airport is getting green on the tarmac.

The airport is undertaking a $2.8 million project to reduce exhaust emissions from aircraft and ground-based generators.

The bulk of the funding is coming from a federal aviation grant intended to cut fossil fuel consumption and improve air quality.

The airport is going to purchase and install 11 new heating and cooling units that are powered by electricity and can be hooked to the belly of a passenger jet to provide interior climate control between landings and takeoffs.

The air units will be tucked beneath walkway bridges at each gate.

In addition, the airport is going to install four new ground power converters at its cargo terminal so that cargo planes can be hooked to electrical power instead of diesel or jet fuel auxiliary power units.

An onboard aircraft auxiliary power unit consumes 54 gallons of jet fuel an hour at a cost of more than $300.

A study by Leigh/Fisher Management Consultants estimated that the changes will annually cut 8 tons of nitrogen oxides, a precursor to ozone pollution, and 7.6 tons of carbon monoxide. Smaller amounts of particulate matter, sulfur gases and volatile organic compounds would also be eliminated.

Over a 20-year period, the reductions will equal the annual output from a single coal-fired power plant, said Darcy Zarubiak, of Leigh/Fisher.

With the program, Spokane International Airport will join 27 other airports taking advantage of the Federal Aviation Administration's "voluntary airport low emissions" funding and be the first in the Pacific Northwest to do so. There are 161 airports nationwide that are eligible for the program.

"Anything we can do to reduce (airlines') fuel burn is going to be critical to them," said Lawrence Krauter, airport director and chief executive officer.

Krauter, who took the Spokane job a year ago, worked on a similar project at his former job at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania.

In addition to reducing fuel costs, the project will create jobs and bring money to the local economy, Krauter said.

On top of that, the project qualifies for federal emissions credits that can be used in meeting federal air pollution standards for future expansion of airline service in Spokane.

The fact that Spokane is considered a federal air-quality maintenance area factored into the airport winning the grant. Airport officials are already planning a second phase under the low emissions grant program, which would likely involve electrical ground vehicles, solar power and alternative fuels, including geothermal energy.

"We have a good track record of being environmentally responsible," Krauter said.

The emissions grant is one of three approved recently for the airport. As a group, the grants will bring $10 million in improvements to the airport this year.

Other work involves rehabilitation of old taxiways and ramps, an air cargo ramp apron and work on a new firefighting and rescue station.

Copyright 2012 - The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.