The Problem of Travel

 

 

                                                                 

                                                Roscommon/Crawford Chapter

 

If you mention climate change to most people, they immediately think of emissions from electricity generation as the chief culprit provoking adverse weather and other negative climate change effects. It was the correct assumption until data was tabulated in 2018 that showed transportation had suddenly become the largest source of carbon pollution in the United States at the end of 2017. The reason for this change is the increased use of renewable sources for generating electricity; think solar farms, wind turbines, and other innovative means of reducing reliance on the fossil fuels of coal, oil. and gas. The data now reveals that  greenhouse gas emissions in rank order in the US are transportation 28%, electricity generation 27%, industry 22%, agriculture 10%, commercial 7%, and residential 6%.

Let’s take a closer look at the transportation sector to determine which vehicles are doing the most harm. Available data from the EPA shows that light-duty vehicles (think cars and light-duty pick-up trucks) produce 59% of total emissions while heavy duty trucks produce 23%, aircraft produces 9%, rail produces 2% and all other transportation types produce a total of 5% of all transportation emissions in the US. Another source yields similar data for the vehicles listed above except that this source includes boats as a separate category. In their study, boats produced 11% of emissions when shipping, transportation, fishing, cruising, and all other usages of boats and ships were considered.  

Another way to evaluate the transportation sector is to measure emissions per mile (or kilometer) traveled for the more common means of transportation. Here is the data managed in this way. Airplane flights leads the pack in creating carbon pollution when measured against kilometers traveled per passenger.

Analysis of emissions per distance traveled:

Vehicle                                                 Emissions per passenger per kilometer traveled

Domestic airline flights                                                  250 grams

Long haul flight                                                               195

Diesel car w one passenger                                              171

Bus w multiple passengers                                               104

Diesel car w 4 passengers                                                 43

Train                                                                                  41

Carnival Corporation  with its nine cruise lines, says its 104 ships emit an average of 251g of carbon dioxide per "available lower berth" per kilometer. Of course, passenger travel by ships offers substantial differences with other types of travel given the focus on multi-night travel amid luxurious surroundings and gourmet food. Yet even here, there are alternatives to such high emissions as proven by Greta Thunberg’s travel from Europe to New York by a sailing ship that was virtually emission free for her long trip across the Atlantic.

 

A further way to look at transportation emissions is the study of emissions resulting from different vehicles used for transportation of goods rather than simply transporting humans for travel. Once again, airline use tops the list in emissions per kilometer per ton of weight carried.

Analysis of emissions for transport of goods:

Vehicle                                                 Emissions per metric ton per kilometer traveled

Airplane Cargo B747                                       500 grams

Heavy duty truck                                             60 to 150

Diesel powered train                                      30 to 100

Modern ship                                                    10 to 40

  

So why do we continue to use expensive airlines for both travel and freight hauling when there are less expensive and lower emission alternatives? The answer is speed and convenience. Humans are increasingly finding reasons why speed and convenience is essential in our modern life even though we survived for several thousand years without benefit of air travel. Only the corona virus seems to be able to reduce the increasing human demand for air travel.

On the other hand, there is no denying the positive economic and social impact that air transport has had on our global society. From making it convenient for us to travel to far-flung places and experience different cultures to enabling isolated communities to have a source of income from tourism, there have been tremendous benefits brought about by aviation. This sector has been and continues to be a major growth activity and more than 10 million jobs are related to aviation. The US continues to be the leader in airline travel with annual passengers numbering 790 million. China is in second place with 436 million air travelers despite its population that is four times larger than the US. India is third in airline travel with 100 million air travelers annually.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a leading international body established by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization, air transport alone contributes a whopping 4.9 per cent of human-caused greenhouse gases. The airlines add further insult to our atmosphere since some of the gases they release are those that are more persistent than carbon dioxide.

The airline industry has heard the voices of those of us calling for reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Those airlines headquartered in Europe have indicated their plan to participate in trading carbon credits and others are experimenting with biodiesel fuel to replace some portion of currently used kerosene-like jet fuel. One airline, Etihad Airways, has become the first Middle East carrier to use sustainable biofuel. Don’t assume these changes will fix the problem of air travel emissions as the carriers would like. One example of overblown hopes comes from the Spanish flag carrier Iberia, which reported that they had reduced emissions per seat by about 6% in 2017. Additional analysis revealed that overall, they had increased absolute emissions by 7% due to increased volume of air travel.

Climate change data indicates that we need to reduce emissions wherever we can. The statistics on the transportation sector reveals that the largest opportunity for emission reduction resides with light duty cars and trucks since they are used in such high volumes across the nation. Another large opportunity for emission savings is with air travel. Since manufacturers of cars, trucks and airplanes are responsive to costs, if prices for fossil fuels increase in response to legislation, you can be assured the car and airplane makers will seek to use lower cost, renewable fuels that will reduce their carbon footprint. The Citizens Climate Lobby House Bill 763 puts a price on carbon pollution thereby helping to protect our atmosphere.