5 ms·

Care to reproduce your calculations here? I'm certain you're off by a factor of 10 (at least). Flying is probably the worst thing you will do in your entire lif

Care to reproduce your calculations here? I'm certain you're off by a factor of 10 (at least). Flying is probably the worst thing you will do in your entire life as far as the environment is concerned.

keanzu 7y ago
Aviation Emissions, Impacts & Mitigation: A Primer FAA Office of Environment and Energy January 2015 Aviation stands out among transportation modes, however, in terms of improving fuel efficiency over the past decade. As shown in Figure 1: Comparison of Vehicle Fuel Efficiency, in 2004, automobiles and airlines operating in the U.S. had very similar energy intensities, with automobiles at 3,496 BTU/passenger mile versus airlines at 3,505 BTU/passenger mile. Between 2004 and 2012, auto energy intensity fell to 3,193 BTU/passenger mile, for an 8.8% improvement. For the same period, aviation energy intensity fell to 2,654 BTU/passenger mile, a 24.3% improvement and is now significantly lower than automobiles. https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/policy_guidance/envir_policy/media/Primer_Jan2015.pdf https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/policy_guidance/env... In addition to being more efficient flying is wildly safer. You have a 750x better chance of surviving a commercial flight than a car trip the same distance. (2000-2010)
tunesmith 7y ago
This was literally a five-minute exercise with google queries and Calca, so I won't be surprised if you're right. For this trip I used 991 air miles, vs 1177 driving miles. Co2PerMile = 53 (for a plane) AirTravelMiles = 991 PeopleOnAirplane = 189 (average passengers per plane) AirTravelCo2PerPerson = Co2PerMile * AirTravelMiles / PeopleOnAirplane => 277.8995 VehicleGramsPerMile = 411 (average gas car) DriveMiles = 1177 GramsPerPound = 453.592 Co2PoundsTrip = VehicleGramsPerMile * DriveMiles / GramsPerPound => 1066.4804 1066 is roughly 4x 277. Or, very roughly, a plane is about 50 lbs/mile, and a car is 1 lb/mile, so it depends on number of passengers in each. As for an electric car, they say an electric car is currently equivalent in emissions to an 80 mpg car, and the average gas car is 22mpg, so... about 4x. So again very roughly, for that distance, air travel is better than car travel (in terms of CO2) unless you have a 4-person carpool for gas cars. If it's a one-person electric car, it's roughly equivalent. Anyway still, the takeaway is that it's the travel distance that has the CO2 impact. Car vs Plane isn't really the point. (Lemme know if you see a 10x error.)
iso1337 7y ago
Actually if you’re in the US, it’s actually having a child: https://www.wnpr.org/post/five-ways-reduce-your-carbon-footprint https://www.wnpr.org/post/five-ways-reduce-your-carbon-footp...

keanzu 7y ago

Aviation Emissions, Impacts & Mitigation: A Primer FAA Office of Environment and Energy January 2015 Aviation stands out among transportation modes, however, in terms of improving fuel efficiency over the past decade. As shown in Figure 1: Comparison of Vehicle Fuel Efficiency, in 2004, automobiles and airlines operating in the U.S. had very similar energy intensities, with automobiles at 3,496 BTU/passenger mile versus airlines at 3,505 BTU/passenger mile. Between 2004 and 2012, auto energy intensity fell to 3,193 BTU/passenger mile, for an 8.8% improvement. For the same period, aviation energy intensity fell to 2,654 BTU/passenger mile, a 24.3% improvement and is now significantly lower than automobiles. https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/policy_guidance/envir_policy/media/Primer_Jan2015.pdf https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/policy_guidance/env... In addition to being more efficient flying is wildly safer. You have a 750x better chance of surviving a commercial flight than a car trip the same distance. (2000-2010)

tunesmith 7y ago

This was literally a five-minute exercise with google queries and Calca, so I won't be surprised if you're right. For this trip I used 991 air miles, vs 1177 driving miles. Co2PerMile = 53 (for a plane) AirTravelMiles = 991 PeopleOnAirplane = 189 (average passengers per plane) AirTravelCo2PerPerson = Co2PerMile * AirTravelMiles / PeopleOnAirplane => 277.8995 VehicleGramsPerMile = 411 (average gas car) DriveMiles = 1177 GramsPerPound = 453.592 Co2PoundsTrip = VehicleGramsPerMile * DriveMiles / GramsPerPound => 1066.4804 1066 is roughly 4x 277. Or, very roughly, a plane is about 50 lbs/mile, and a car is 1 lb/mile, so it depends on number of passengers in each. As for an electric car, they say an electric car is currently equivalent in emissions to an 80 mpg car, and the average gas car is 22mpg, so... about 4x. So again very roughly, for that distance, air travel is better than car travel (in terms of CO2) unless you have a 4-person carpool for gas cars. If it's a one-person electric car, it's roughly equivalent. Anyway still, the takeaway is that it's the travel distance that has the CO2 impact. Car vs Plane isn't really the point. (Lemme know if you see a 10x error.)

iso1337 7y ago

Actually if you’re in the US, it’s actually having a child: https://www.wnpr.org/post/five-ways-reduce-your-carbon-footprint https://www.wnpr.org/post/five-ways-reduce-your-carbon-footp...