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New Study Suggests Flying Is Greener Than Driving
New submitter Desert Leap writes: The Washington Post reports a new study that suggests it is more environmentally friendly to fly rather than to drive. Analysis from the University of Michigan Transport Research Institute found that driving uses 57% more energy than flying per passenger mile. This is largely due to the number of occupied plane seats increasing while passengers per car decreased. Of course, "results may vary" for individual trips depending on many factors, such as distance flown (long flights are more fuel efficient) and the kind of car, and how many riders. One factoid is interesting: it takes 4,211 BTUs per person mile to drive. This number will fall as we switch over to electric vehicles. For example, a Tesla Model S takes about 1,100 BTUs per vehicle mile. Will future aircraft be able to also make the switch to electric?
The comparison between planes and other modes of transit would be for longer-haul routes since planes do not provide inter-city transport. For longer routes, buses normally run fairly full. And for those that say buses aren't always full, I have been on a 737 plane between cities 1000 miles apart where there were only four passengers, including me, and on a flight to the far east where I had a row of five seats on a 747 all to myself for 12 hours.