Family ties fuel passion for sustainability
Dale Smith witnessed Boeing’s evolution with Sustainable Aviation Fuel and now helps advance it.
BNN
What happened: In 2006, Dale Smith was managing Boeing corporate giving programs when he
was asked to help Commercial Airplanes assess a new European Union regulation requiring a major rethink of Boeing’s environmental strategy.
- The EU’s emissions plan set a limit on greenhouse gases that can be emitted annually by entities under its jurisdictions.
- Airlines operating flights in and out of European airports were included in the limit.
The big picture: “The potential impact to airlines and airplane manufacturers was significant,” Smith said.
What came next: Smith joined Commercial Airplanes as a geopolitical and policy analyst – its first specializing in environmental policy.
“We pretty quickly realized we needed to dive in and technology was needed to help solve this,” said Smith, who is now a regional director within Global Enterprise Environmental Sustainability.
“One was to continue the legacy of improving fuel efficiency, especially advanced light-weight materials. The other was low carbon, drop-in fuels.”
From that moment, Smith witnessed Boeing embark on a 17-year pursuit of technologies to help achieve the industry’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050. One of the most important technologies is Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
Why it matters: Boeing’s strategy to advance SAF has been validated and grown in importance ever since, with the Air Transport Action Group recently saying that scaling up SAF globally offers “perhaps the single largest opportunity to meet and go beyond the industry’s 2050 goal.”
Today, through the work of Smith and many other dedicated teammates across the company, Boeing:
- Is the largest SAF purchaser of any aerospace manufacturer for its own operations and test flights
- Is providing business development support for emerging SAF technologies and producers
- Has an extensive record of partnering with airlines and stakeholders on SAF use and flight testing dating back to 2008
- Is on track to make its new airplanes capable of flying with 100% SAF by 2030
Boeing has also used SAF for all ecoDemonstrator flight testing since 2012, and in 2019 it offered SAF for customer delivery flights from its delivery centers out of Puget Sound and Charleston.
“We’ve made so much progress on SAF, and what makes me the proudest is being part of the Boeing process for developing commercial technology,” Smith said. “We do the science, and then develop it – systematically, pragmatically, persistently.”
While Smith rotated into different sustainability roles over the past decade, including a focus on advanced materials, he credits leaders like Sheila Remes, vice president of Environmental Sustainability, with keeping a laser focus on advancing SAF throughout this timeframe.
In Smith’s latest role, based in Seattle, he is again involved in advancing SAF leading strategies around public policies, supply chains and utilization of the fuels.
Cutting through complexity: He brings with him a unique ability to wade through the technical and business jargon and explain the science in layman’s terms, teammates say.
“He’s able to engage in very technical conversations with government scientists from around the world, talking about complex scientific issues, and responding in a clear and understandable way that everyone can understand,” said Bryan Lopp, director of international operations and policy.
Like father, like son: Smith credits his skills as a science communicator to the lively discussions his family had at the dinner table and on long road trips growing up in Benton City, Washington.
Dale Smith and his father, LeRoi, enjoying a walk together in northern Michigan. (Dale Smith photo)His father, LeRoi, worked as an atmospheric geophysicist mapping the magnetic field around the earth, was a hobby farmer and ran a successful software company. His father gave him a passion for learning and encouraged him to be curious and make daily life fun.
“We would talk about everything from the physics of the northern lights and the biology and chemistry of irrigation farming, to the math and logic of BASIC software programming and the physics of wilderness hiking and our roles on sports teams,” Smith said.
He will need all of those communications skills in advancing SAF, which remains very much in its infancy and currently makes up less than 0.1% of all fuels in aviation.
Yes, but: Additional processing and refining, facilities will need to be built, and a banking ecosystem will need to be established to finance these new ventures. Many more technical advancements will also need to be made before the low-carbon fuel can match conventional jet fuel in price and availability.
It’s a challenge Smith takes up with zeal, powered by his passion for creating good.
“I’m a pragmatic optimist,” he said. “I’m grateful I get to work with so many smart passionate Boeing teammates and industry colleagues to address aviation carbon emissions in ways to improve the future for my children and their families and friends, and for everyone. I think my dad would be proud of me.”
Go deeper: Learn more about sustainable aviation fuels in the SAF Fact Sheet.
By Ivan Gale