When are they going to start making hybrid turbofan engines for commercial airplanes?
Contrary to what many environmentalists feel, commercial planes account for less than 10% of the worlds oil useage. As far as I know, there is no plan for a “hybrid” jet engine, but there have been developments made on a hydrogen powered jet. I highly doubt that this hydrogen engine will be making a premiere anytime soon. The modern jet engine is actually quite fuel efficient by itself. The engines on the Airbus A380 have been designed to be about 15% more efficient. My forecast for the jet engine industry is to see more work being done to improve the current turbofan design versus making developments for a hybrid engine. I conclude by saying that there probably is a scientist or engineer working on this type of engine, but it’s probably just a research project.
