Engines Grow Clean and Green in Quest for Competitive Edge

One has heard of green airframes (meaning they are delivered ready for completion),
but green engines are something else again.

P&WC's CEO Gilles Ouimet.

Gilles Ouimet, president and CEO of Pratt & Whitney Canada, is talking about them here at Heli-Expo 2001.

He is a firm believer that in terms of fundamental evolution of society we must all drive hard in a very forceful way to eliminate toxic waste of all kinds. Hence Pratt's "green engine program," which focuses not only on emissions and noise but on any and all manufacturing processes and materials that involve creation of toxic waste.

"Our parent, UTC, is a strong believer in this," Ouimet told Show News. "As a company we are very proactive in looking at what we have to do to have as environmentally friendly processes and engines as possible. We set our own environmental and safety standards worldwide that exceed Canadian laws and regulations." And also exceed Zurich Class 5.

That, one soon realizes, is the most stringent standard for engine emissions of nitrous oxide, hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide.

And it has, according to Pratt in a press release, played a role in winning a competition against Turbomeca to power three EC 135s for the Swedish police-the first time a manufacturer of helicopter engines has claimed environmental considerations were a factor.

Another reason-one that Turbomeca engine chief Francois Courtot believes much more decisive-was that Pratt has already certified its more powerful PW206B2 engine, while the equivalent French engine, the Arrius 2B2, will not be ready before next year.

"I don't agree at all (with the claim that environmental concerns were a factor)," Courtot told Show News.

"For me it is not the truth, it is the opposite. Regarding environmental qualities of the Turbomeca engine, I think we are in better shape."

Now the gauntlet is down we might begin hearing more about "how green is my engine."