• Question: do you use any wanted materials and how are you helpful to the envirament

    Asked by ZPATEL to Huw, Gosha, Ray, Stacey, Steve on 12 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Huw Williams

      Huw Williams answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Hi ZPATEL,

      I think you meant unwanted materials, which I’ll interpret as do you recycle/reuse and how sustainable is your company?

      The answer is Yes we do use unwanted materials, we have a programme within Rolls-Royce called Revert, this means we take all the waste materials left over after we make an engine and then we process it and reuse it to make more new engines. So nothing gets thrown away!

      We’re also really dedicated to reducing the impact our engine’s have on the environment by reducing the amount of fuel they use and by reducing the amount of emissions they produce. So by becoming an Engineer and working on projects like that you can actively help the environment by reducing the impact of air travel!

      If you want to find out more about our sustainability programmes and how we’re helping the environment you can visit our web page here:

      http://www.rolls-royce.com/sustainability.aspx

      Huw

    • Photo: Steve Cox

      Steve Cox answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      3D printing is what’s called an Additive Manufacturing technology, which means you always add material to make a part and only use material where you need it.

      That way there is very little waste, unlike making things by machining them where you start with a large block of something and then take material away from it.

      That material ends up as waste. Sometimes it can be recycled, and sometimes it can’t – but you always lose money on what’s left on the floor, and that can be a lot of money if it’s an expensive material in the first place.

    • Photo: Gosha Barzowska

      Gosha Barzowska answered on 17 Mar 2015:

      Airbus uses quite a lot of composite materials recently, e.g. carbon fibre. It’s technically a ‘plastic’ (interesting fact: engineers don’t like the word ‘palstic’ – they like to call it polymer becuase plastic decribes the state of the material not the actual material). So as any other polymer material- it is not good for the environmet but it has its own advantaged. By using carbon fibre for aircraft components, we reduce its weight and therefore CO2 emissions! the main challenge is to find the right balance 😉

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