Global Targets / Our Research

Ice formation

Author :
Andrew Harold Gibbons

Ice on an airplane changes the airflow
making flying unpredictable and dangerous

It can cost over
$0
to de-ice a commercial airliner.

A Boeing 747 can cost up to $30,000 to de-ice!

40 flight accidents related to icing since 2006,
resulting in over 200 deaths

There are over 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in the USA alone. This is over 50 times the distance around the earth!

Powerlines cost between $300,000 to $400,000 per mile to install.

Between 1998 and 2007, around 7 million people in North America have lost power because of ice storms.

There have been several recent ice storms in NA that have caused power outages due to ice build-up on power cables

1998	2005	2007	2013
4 Million Outages	1 Million Outages	1 Million Outages	1.5Million Outages

We use a variety of methods to remove ice after it builds up.

Salt

Propylene Glycol

Deicing boots are on the edge of airplane wings. By inflating they break ice.

Currently many people are interested in preventing ice from growing in the first place!

Surfaces can be made that prevent water from sticking.

The lotus leaf has a special nanostructure to prevent water from sticking to its surface.

Adding artificial structures like this to other surfaces can prevent water and ice build up without any energy requirement!

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