3 ms·

Oh wow, interesting. I was looking around and found another estimate that it's 1.4 tons (SFO/NYC round-trip). I guess this is better (365% vs. 543%), but still

Oh wow, interesting. I was looking around and found another estimate that it's 1.4 tons (SFO/NYC round-trip). I guess this is better (365% vs. 543%), but still looking much worse than driving? [1] https://co2.myclimate.org/en/flight_calculators/new https://co2.myclimate.org/en/flight_calculators/new

notacoward 7y ago
I got about 1.3 tons for BOS<->SEA. Close enough I guess. For cars, start with https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-t... Look at the third answer down. The figures I cited earlier were based on about half that mileage per year, so that comes out to 2.3t. Lots of unit confusion here, but I think those both end up being metric tons and the daily commute is already worse than monthly air travel. Maybe that's all wrong, but the point I'm trying to focus on is that the need for regular long-distance travel severely erodes the environmental value of letting people work from home.
- icebraining 7y ago
  > that comes out to 2.3t 2.3t per year, not per month, though.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - notacoward 7y ago
    Ah, right you are. Now I'm really sad.
    - mehrdadn 7y ago
      Okay, so to also summarize for anyone else reading, here's what's going on. The assumptions are: - Using 261 gal gas/year (which 21.5 gal/month, or e.g. driving 2 × 15 mi/day at 41 mi/gal) - 1 gal gas = 8.9kg CO₂ (resulting in 2.3 tons of CO₂/year) In your case that's 15.6 tCO₂/year for flying, vs. 2.3 tCO₂/year for driving. So, yeah... your flying footprint is 678% more than driving. i.e. you need to fly to work less often than once every 7 months in order for it to beat driving the route you had in mind. Sorry for the bad news :( but yes, you're very much correct that this makes it even harder for remote work to be good, if you have to fly even twice a year.
      - icebraining 7y ago
        > this makes it even harder for remote work to be good, if you have to fly even twice a year. Well, he's working a continent away from his office. There are still infinite possibilities for remote work without having to travel 2500 miles for those occasional visits.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

notacoward 7y ago

I got about 1.3 tons for BOS<->SEA. Close enough I guess. For cars, start with https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-t... Look at the third answer down. The figures I cited earlier were based on about half that mileage per year, so that comes out to 2.3t. Lots of unit confusion here, but I think those both end up being metric tons and the daily commute is already worse than monthly air travel. Maybe that's all wrong, but the point I'm trying to focus on is that the need for regular long-distance travel severely erodes the environmental value of letting people work from home.

icebraining 7y ago
> that comes out to 2.3t 2.3t per year, not per month, though.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- notacoward 7y ago
  Ah, right you are. Now I'm really sad.
  - mehrdadn 7y ago
    Okay, so to also summarize for anyone else reading, here's what's going on. The assumptions are: - Using 261 gal gas/year (which 21.5 gal/month, or e.g. driving 2 × 15 mi/day at 41 mi/gal) - 1 gal gas = 8.9kg CO₂ (resulting in 2.3 tons of CO₂/year) In your case that's 15.6 tCO₂/year for flying, vs. 2.3 tCO₂/year for driving. So, yeah... your flying footprint is 678% more than driving. i.e. you need to fly to work less often than once every 7 months in order for it to beat driving the route you had in mind. Sorry for the bad news :( but yes, you're very much correct that this makes it even harder for remote work to be good, if you have to fly even twice a year.
    - icebraining 7y ago
      > this makes it even harder for remote work to be good, if you have to fly even twice a year. Well, he's working a continent away from his office. There are still infinite possibilities for remote work without having to travel 2500 miles for those occasional visits.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]