Every year about 2.3 million people travel by plane for Thanksgiving, and 33.2 travel by plane. That's a lot of people traveling a lot of miles, and only for one holiday. Many Americans have to make the decision to travel by plane or by car numerous times over the course of the year.
Both flying and driving have their pros and cons. Plane travel is considered the faster option, but passengers need to account for travel time to and from the airport, waiting time, and delays. In most cases, traveling by plane is the more expensive option. The average price of a domestic round-trip plane ticket is about $380, which doesn't include the price of checking bags, driving to the airport and renting a car. Ultimately, to the average American, the reason they choose to travel by air is because of the high price they put on their time. Some people aren't willing to spend 12 hours in a car with children when they could spend four hours flying.
Car travel is usually chosen because of the smaller price tag. Even with higher gas prices, the cumulative price of flying usually totals more than the cost of driving, especially for families. Taking the average plane ticket price of $380 and applying it to a family of four comes out significantly higher than the cost of gas, which is one cost that is not multiplied by the number of people.
screenshot from MSN Money
But which is the more environmentally friendly choice? EarthTalk, from E/The Environmental Magazine, says that driving a relatively fuel efficient car (25-30 miles per gallon) produces less greenhouse gas emissions than air travel. In addition, carpooling significantly decreases the amount of GHG emitted per person. According to Grist.org, traveling 300 miles with a medium-sized car produces about 104 kilograms of CO2, while flying the same distance produces about 184 kilograms per passenger - similarly, four people in that same car would still produce 104 kg, but four people by plane would produce 736 kg. Especially in the case of carpooling, car > plane.
In conclusion, driving a car produces less greenhouse gases than flying the same distance. In most cases, it also costs less to drive than it does to fly. However, it would be less expensive to fly across the United States than it would be to drive. To figure out the cost of driving, AAA's Fuel Cost Calculator is a good resource to utilize. Also, one has to take into account the price of sanity as well as time. In the end, whatever type of transportation you use, you can purchase carbon offsets to balance the emissions from companies such as TerraPass. Happy travels!
I think it's also important to consider other emissions from combustion. Both airplanes and automobiles also emit VOCs, NOx, SOx, etc.
ReplyDeleteI also learned in my environmental science course that jets end up producing a higher amount of nitrous oxide (as opposed to NO or NO2) than automobiles because oxygen is more limited in the stratosphere. According to this study, (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1176985) N2O is a very potent ozone-depleting gas produced by combustion.
-Sam Shelby
ReplyDeleteThis article is very very relevant to me personally, because my family both drives and flies to a family's house around the holidays. I found it very interesting the costs and environmental impacts of planes versus cars- but in the case of Minneapolis to Chicago, a 8 hour drive compared to a little over an hour plane ride for around $128 difference makes the plane ride very tempting to me. But I suppose when you take into account the environmental impacts and emissions, driving a somewhat fuel efficient car would be the better choice for sure.
ReplyDelete-Alex Athans
I am very impressed with this. I thought a airplane full of people verse everyone driving would be significantly more environmentally friendly! I am surprised that just having a car that gets around 30 miles a gallon can have such a profound impact. The only problem that I see is that not everyone has a car that gets 30 miles to the gallon. But that is really not that big of a deal when you think about the benefits from the cars that do get 30 miles to the gallon. I guess the airlines and plane designers need to think about making a more efficient plane sometime in the near future.
ReplyDeleteWhat about other forms of transportation? buses and trains are both readily available for transport between almost every area, and in combination to certainly any place you would want to go. im sure the emissions from a full bus would break down per person to a much more efficient method of travel. Also trains would be the number one way to reduce emissions, they are efficient and move as fast if not faster then cars. especially on a holiday weekend full of traffic there will be plenty of cars sitting idle polluting the environment while a train passes by full of passengers and polluting much less
ReplyDeleteWhen I was very little, my family took a trip to Disney world via air plane. 10 years later, we took the same pilgrimage via car. The plane trip took the span of an afternoon, whereas the car trip took a day and a half, crossing miles of orange trees on the way. When I visited my grandfather annually, the transportation of choice was by plane, but then ouru favorite cheap airlines closed down so we were forced to take the same trips via car. The trip that took 1 hour by plane took 5 hours by car. On the plus side, we could bring the whole family by car. The difference of 4 hours translates to 4 hours of opportunity costs, so car travel is more expensive then you think. However, if you are thinking in terms of damage to the environment, car travel is clearly the way to go.
ReplyDeleteThere are some trips that are impractical to take by car, traveling from the east to west coast is a good example. Some trips simply cannot be taken by car, crossing the Atlantic for example.
I recently learned in my Global Environmental Issues class that airlines are trying to increase the efficiency of their airplanes to lessen the huge amount of pollution they produce. I do not think most people realized just how much pollutants airplanes release because of their size and amount of energy they need. I found a site that explains how these "green" planes will work and how companies are reducing emissions by altering their current aircrafts. It states that NOx emissions could be reduced by 25%. Since people are becoming more impatient with car travel, air travel is only going to grow and I believe we need to invest in making this mode of travel more environmentally friendly.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.seatguru.com/articles/green_aircraft_and_airlines.php