Southwest Airlines Shows its new, Green Prototype Aircraft

Southwest Airlines has unveiled a prototype that will help the skies go greener. Until now, little progress has been made in making the aircrafts environment friendly, and the new prototype aircraft Southwest displayed appears to be a step in the right direction. The new aircraft does not have any ground breaking technology as such, but a healthy dose of innovativeness is what makes this flier eco friendly.

They have used environmentally friendly materials for a number of functions on the aircraft, and have also put weight saving methods in place. The aircraft has InterfaceFlor carpet that is completely recyclable, and can withstand wear. Similarly, aluminum seat rub strips on the Boeing 737-700 have been replaced with plastic ones.

They have also replaced the leather seat covers with IZIT leather, changed the material on the life vest pouch, and used lighter foam for the seats. All these additions collectively add up to nearly 472 pounds of weight savings on the aircraft. These weight savings in turn translate to savings of 9,500 gallons of fuel. There is no word on when and if Southwest will put this bird at work.

Source: CleanTechnica

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