Abstract: Among all modes of transportation, travel by airplanes and automobiles continues to experience the fastest growth. Currently, there are approximately 500,000 air vehicles (335,000 Active General Aviation Aircraft, 18,000 Passenger Aircraft, 90,000 Military Aircraft, 27,000 Civil Helicopters, and 30,000 Military Helicopters), and 750 million ground vehicles in service worldwide. They are responsible for 50% of petroleum (oil) consumption and 60% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. These numbers are forecasted to double by 2050. Therefore the environmental issues such as noise, emissions and fuel burn (consumption), for both airplane and ground vehicles, have become important for energy and environmental sustainability. This paper provides an overview of specific energy and environmental issues related to both air and ground transportation. For air transportation, topics dealing with noise and emissions mitigation by technological solutions including new aircraft and engine designs/technologies, alternative fuels, and materials as well as examination of aircraft operations logistics including Air-Traffic Management (ATM), Air-to-Air Refueling (AAR), Close Formation Flying (CFF), and tailored arrivals to minimize fuel burn are discussed. The ground infrastructure for sustainable aviation, including the concept of ‘Sustainable Green Airport Design’ is also covered. For ground vehicles, the technologies related to reduction in energy requirements such as reducing the vehicle mass by using the high strength low weight materials and reducing the viscous drag by active flow control and smoothing the operational profile, and reducing the contact friction by special tire materials are discussed along with the portable energy sources for reducing the GHG emissions such as low carbon fuels (biofuels), lithium-ion batteries with high energy density and stability, and fuel cells.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Professor Ramesh Agarwal is the William Palm Professor of Engineering and the director of Aerospace Engineering Program and Aerospace Research and Education Center at Washington University in St. Louis. From 1994 to 2001, he was the Sam Bloomfield Distinguished Professor and Executive Director of the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University in Kansas. From 1978 to 1994, he worked in various scientific and managerial positions at McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratories in St. Louis. He became the Program Director and McDonnell Douglas Fellow in 1990. Dr. Agarwal received Ph.D in Aeronautical Sciences from Stanford University in 1975, M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1969 and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India in 1968. Over a period of 35 years, Professor Agarwal has worked in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), nanotechnology and renewable energy systems. He is the author and coauthor of over 300 publications and serves on the editorial board of fifteen journals. He has given many plenary, keynote and invited lectures at various national and international conferences worldwide. Professor Agarwal continues to serve on many professional, government, and industrial advisory committees. Dr. Agarwal is a Fellow of fifteen societies - American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Physical Society (APS), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), American Academy of Mechanics (AAM), Institute of Physics, Energy Institute, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Academy of Science of St. Louis, and World Innovation Foundation (WIF). He has served as a distinguished lecturer of AIAA (1996-1999), ASME (1994-1997), IEEE (1994-2011), and ACM (2011). He has received many honors and awards for his research contributions including the ASME Fluids Engineering Award (2001), ASME Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award (2006), Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Award (2007), AIAA Aerodynamics Award (2008), AIAA/SAE William Littlewood Lecture Award (2009), James B. Eads Award of the Academy of Science of St. Louis (2009), SAE Clarence Kelly Johnson Award (2010), SAE Franklin W. Kolk Progress in Air Transportation Award (2010), ASME Edwin Church Medal (2011), AIAA Thermophysics Award (2011) and SAE John Connors Environmental Award.