Schiphol, an electric city
With all the aircrafts, it’s probably not the first thing you’d think of, but Schiphol is increasingly transforming into an electric city. The bus that takes you from the gate to your aircraft is often electrically powered. If you need to catch a taxi after your flight, you can choose an electric vehicle. Prefer to travel to and from Schiphol by bus? These will soon be mostly electrically powered as well.
Let’s take a brief step back in time. Ten years ago you would take a diesel-powered bus to Schiphol, quickly charge your phone using grey energy and be driven by another diesel bus to your aircraft, which would be supplied with energy from a diesel generator in preparation for the flight.
In many cases this is now done very differently. Electric buses are replacing the other buses at the airport, many diesel generators have made way for electrical outlets and suitcases are taken to the aircraft by an electric baggage tractor. Upon arrival, you can drive home in an electrically powered Tesla or hop in your own electric car that has fully recharged during the time it was parked. And on top of that, all electricity at Schiphol comes from Dutch wind farms!
1,260 tonnes of CO2
You might be thinking: that’s nice, but what’s the result? Well, by replacing the diesel buses on the platforms with electric buses, in two and a half years we have been able to lower our CO2 emissions by 1,260 tonnes! That’s equivalent to the emissions of 63 households. Now just imagine when the buses to and from Schiphol become electrically powered soon as well...
A CO2-neutral airport
Since 2012 we have been a CO2-neutral airport. One of the ways we achieve this is by using green energy. Emissions that can’t yet be reduced are offset through compensation projects and, of course, by using less energy. This is something we will continue to work hard on in the years ahead. And we want to do more: not just on the ground, but up to a kilometre in the air. That’s why we’re also looking at the emissions of aircraft during take-off and landing. More on this to come. Want to know what you can do in the meantime? Check: what can you do?
