* The windowless cabin doesn't sound very pleasant but at the same time, if you're in the middle rows the windows might as well not exist anyway.

* I don't know why planes use expensive jet fuel to taxi as it is. The electric motor thing just makes sense -- they don't need that much power to taxi, and the batteries can be charged by the engines while in flight.

* Slapping solar panels on vehicles is pretty flavor of the month. It IS a good idea, but not terribly creative.

* As long as the plant materials result in an equally strong flight frame I don't see a problem with that. Compromising hull integrity for 'greenness' is a bad idea though.

* While sensible Standford's idea simply isn't practical. Planes rarely fly the same routes at the same time, so how would they fly in formation?

Actually, airplanes often fly very similiar routes at nearly the same time. Check airline schedules. They don't have to start and end at the same place either, as long as the airports are reasonably close to one another.

With slight modification of schedules aircraft could join up in route to fly in formation. For a transatlantic route from the U.S. to Europe this makes a lot of sense, and has huge implications for fuel savings.

I'm all for thinking outside the box, but this is the best? Windows are the joy of flying, taking that away for How much fuel??? We could all drive windowless cars too.
Airplanes are a delicate balance of weight and drag, etc. That's why they don't build them like tanks....or even cars. Replace the windows maybe with video or something...but that might increase wieght and complexity.
The electric motor idea is great, but by now surely one of these students has realised that the extra weight in heavy batteries would be a bad tradeoff. For large commercial planes on regular routes, why not have electric carts tow them to the runway instead of just from the gangway? Of course, if the cart has it's own driver, you'd have to pay them. Heh.
Solar Panels....I'd be interested to see what kind of fuel savings they think they'd get over just letting the engines (or aux unit) generate the electricity... it's such a small part of the overall consumption and once again...added weight with batteries or capacitors to smooth out the supply of electricity.
Green contruction material seems like a good line of research, one for the long haul. Don't rush anything to production that's not well tested for crashworthiness and aging, etc. And please don't assume that the overall 'green' picture is good just because the source material is a plant. We all saw what happened when corn ethanol was rushed into production 'to be green'.
Formations....like the comments above, if you have enough going in the same direction and the technology to absolutely guarantee safety, fine. I say that because the first time an inflight collision occurs in a formation of airliners, you know public opinion and the press would be the end of it.
---But ...keep workin' at it! The airline industry needs all the help it can get. I'd hate to think that in a few years I won't be able to afford the cost of a ticket.

Wow, these kids are idiots.

Windowless travel, plain out dumb, there are people who have problems being in confined spaces and for them to travel with no windows would cause them to panic and freak out and cause so much trouble, they need the windows to calm them down.
Secondly the electric motor isn't a bad idea but in relation to your "why not have electric carts tow the planes to the runway" mindovergreen, is this as a current airport employee who works around planes all day this would be a bad idea. Not to mention the rules and regulations that would have to change for FAA to allow us to tow planes to the taxiway and that all equipment has govenors on them that cut off the max speed our equipment can go. Along with that, the amount of planes that take off and land at any given time would increase safety risks for the rampers.

The Solar Panel idea is something I have been thinking about for a long time and now we finally have someone actually working on the idea. I dont think we should use them to completely run the plane but as another sorce of power, so they don't have to waste fuel running the APU. Plus think how much sun they would gather with the planes being outside all the time and higher in the atmosphere during flight. The solar panels would have to be built into the wings or tail and lay flat as to not obstruct the aerodynamics of the aircraft.

The green materials is interesting we would have to see the prototype and witness the aircraft in flight to see how well it holds up and how much of a difference it makes.

The last idea I really don't know about, it is a nice concept but with flight patterns and required timing and space between planes in flight it might not work. And to change the flight routes to try this idea and get the FAA involved would take so much time. It might not be worth it. Come on students, I know all of you had to have more original ideas than most of these.

Windowless travel, plain out dumb, there are people who have problems being in confined spaces and for them to travel with no windows would cause them to panic and freak out and cause so much trouble, they need the windows to calm them down.

Secondly the electric motor isn't a bad idea but in relation to your "why not have electric carts tow the planes to the runway" mindovergreen, is this as a current airport employee who works around planes all day this would be a bad idea. Not to mention the rules and regulations that would have to change for FAA to allow us to tow planes to the taxiway and that all equipment has govenors on them that cut off the max speed our equipment can go. Along with that, the amount of planes that take off and land at any given time would increase safety risks for the rampers.

The Solar Panel idea is something I have been thinking about for a long time and now we finally have someone actually working on the idea. I dont think we should use them to completely run the plane but as another sorce of power, so they don't have to waste fuel running the APU. Plus think how much sun they would gather with the planes being outside all the time and higher in the atmosphere during flight. The solar panels would have to be built into the wings or tail and lay flat as to not obstruct the aerodynamics of the aircraft.

The green materials is interesting we would have to see the prototype and witness the aircraft in flight to see how well it holds up and how much of a difference it makes.

The last idea I really don't know about, it is a nice concept but with flight patterns and required timing and space between planes in flight it might not work. And to change the flight routes to try this idea and get the FAA involved would take so much time. It might not be worth it. Come on students, I know all of you had to have more original ideas than most of these.

Windowless travel, plain out dumb, there are people who have problems being in confined spaces and for them to travel with no windows would cause them to panic and freak out and cause so much trouble, they need the windows to calm them down.

Secondly the electric motor isn't a bad idea but in relation to your "why not have electric carts tow the planes to the runway" mindovergreen, is this as a current airport employee who works around planes all day this would be a bad idea. Not to mention the rules and regulations that would have to change for FAA to allow us to tow planes to the taxiway and that all equipment has govenors on them that cut off the max speed our equipment can go. Along with that, the amount of planes that take off and land at any given time would increase safety risks for the rampers.

The Solar Panel idea is something I have been thinking about for a long time and now we finally have someone actually working on the idea. I dont think we should use them to completely run the plane but as another sorce of power, so they don't have to waste fuel running the APU. Plus think how much sun they would gather with the planes being outside all the time and higher in the atmosphere during flight. The solar panels would have to be built into the wings or tail and lay flat as to not obstruct the aerodynamics of the aircraft.

The green materials is interesting we would have to see the prototype and witness the aircraft in flight to see how well it holds up and how much of a difference it makes.

The last idea I really don't know about, it is a nice concept but with flight patterns and required timing and space between planes in flight it might not work. And to change the flight routes to try this idea and get the FAA involved would take so much time. It might not be worth it. Come on students, I know all of you had to have more original ideas than most of these.