International. According to a report by the European Commission (EC), European researchers from Germany, Italy, Ireland and Serbia are working on the development of a new software and sensor system, which will reduce carbon emissions and energy costs by 20% at airports in this region.
The project, which is called Cascade and is still in a pilot phase, is currently being developed at the Italian airports of Fiumicino (Rome) and Malpensa (Milan).
It is estimated that the system will save these Italian airports about 6,000 megawatts per hour, which is equivalent to 42,000 tons of CO2 and 840,000 euros per year, the EC said in a statement.
"The Cascade system shows that being sustainable doesn't have to cost a fortune, and that it can actually save money" for the European Union (EU), said Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission and head of the Digital Agenda.
Its implementation in airports translates into the incorporation of "fault detection and diagnosis systems, such as fans that do not work properly, heating and cooling or control errors," said the project coordinator, Nicolas Rehault, in the same statement.
Cascade has €2.6 million in funding from the EC's Seventh Programme (FP7) for research and technological development.
