Janice L. Tuchman/ENR Airports of the future will screen passengers and luggage offsite, predicts Jeffrey Scheferman, president of the Houston Airport System Development Co., at left

China plans to build almost $18 billion worth of airport construction in the next five years, bringing its total number of airports from 137 to 186. With such greenfield opportunities, it could emerge as the leader in benchmarking environmentally-friendly, high-tech, secure airports, said participants at the McGraw-Hill China Airport Construction Summit held in Xi-An May 15.

Officials from Europe, China and the U.S. spoke about best practices for environment, security, technology and economic development during the one-day conference. Learning about "worldwide theory and practice is critically important" for China as it embarks on its massive airport program, said Wang Jian, secretary general of the China Civil Airport Association.

Integrating concepts for these issues from the get-go is critical, agreed speakers. For example, "earth-friendly" aspects of airports are "not an add-on, but a fundamental integration into design and construction," said Paul Johnson, global business leader for environmental consulting of Arup Group, Ltd. Jian added that China's aviation industry "had paid little attention to the issue in the past...but once the environmental issue explodes, we will be baffled."

Wang Jian, secretary-general of the China Civil Airport Association, said, "We need to be bold enough to talk about the the environmental problems of airports because there is inceasing pubic concern about them."

Slideshow: China Airport Construction Summit Features Pre-Conference Cultural Tour

George P. Vittas, senior vice president of AECOM's global aviation group, noted that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plus Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport have used lime cement fly ash in runway pavements to save construction costs and reduce amounts of carbon dioxide-emitting byproducts of cement (by reducing the amount of Portland cement needed by up to 50%). But "market forces have conspired against the spread of this technology," he added. That will change as environmental issues exert more influence, he added. Converting all airfield lighting into LED fixures will help, he said.

But for new airports, it all boils down to good planning, said Rod Wille, senior vice president with Turner Construction, New York City. He added: "Green buildings need not cost more than traditional buildings." Although surveys indicated that industry officials thought "green" buildings would cost up to 15% more than traditional buildings, "that's not true," he said.

The Chinese have put sustainable airport design on their national infrastructure planning agenda. Wang Zhiqing, deputy director-general, planning and development department, CAAC, the govenment agency that regulates airports, acjnowledged that China's next wave of airport development must promote "sustainable development that reduces energy demand and the consumption of resources."

Good planning and integration of factors such as environment and security from the get-go are crucial, officials agreed. So is looking ahead, rather than being reactive. Jeffrey Scheferman, president of the Houston Airport System Development Co., compared designing future airports to buying a Blackberry: "Six weeks later, there's a newer model," he said. He advised China airport officials to think of passengers as "packages" the way United Parcel Service does--screened and accounted for during the entire journey. He emphasized that high-tech airports of the future will include screening passengers and their luggage off-airport, before they even get to the terminal.

"The technology is there, but we need political will," he said, adding: "From the very beginning, make information technolgoy part of your design" for a new airport. Don't backfill IT around the physical structure."