GREENVILLE, S.C.—Carbon footprints aren't just left on dusty county roads or freshly paved highways.
They take to the skies, too.
And Michelin North America Inc. is committed to minimizing more of those carbon footprints—wherever they happen to be left behind. Its Michelin Air X Sky Light commercial aviation tire is proof of that.
The Greenville-based tire maker debuted the Air X Sky Light earlier this summer, crediting breakthroughs in architecture, materials and manufacturing for the tire's more sustainable performance.
And there's one reason for that: It's weight. The Air X Sky Light weighs 10 to 20 percent less than its predecessors. At the same time—and because of the materials, design and manufacturing breakthroughs—the tire demonstrates better performance over long-term Landing Per Tread during its lifetime.
A lifetime that Michelin has increased by 10 to 20 percent.
"To design the Air X Sky Light tire, Michelin looked at the overall standard life cycle for tires from an environmental perspective," the company said in a news release. "This approach demonstrated that the weight is by far the parameter with the most impact (90 to 98 percent), and that this occurs during the usage phase."
Additional weight at high altitudes results in greater energy consumption, Michelin said. And considering that tires on a landing gear assembly can range from about 110 pounds to more than 4,440 pounds, any reduction to that weight can make a big difference for the aircraft and the environment.
"Not only will this new tire lower overall weight on the aircraft, resulting in substantial fuel savings, but it will cut CO2 emissions as well," Scott Murray, Michelin North America vice president of aircraft tire sales, said in a statement. "Providing lighter weight tires has long been a key mechanism across our product portfolio to both minimize CO2 while maximizing the utility of every ounce of material we deploy in our products. This is at the heart of the sustainable mobility we aspire to deliver to every customer."
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