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John Candy Would Approve

By sarahdasher on January 4, 2007.

Calculate your CO2 emissions by plane, train, or automobile.

i-fff5ab749f601d645cafeae93d90b5c6-CO2-Screenshot.gif

Here's a puzzler for the greenhouse gas enthusiasts among you:
According to this calculator, car and airplane emissions even out over progressively longer trips, despite the obvious weaknesses of an as-the-crow-flies methodology (see above; we're driving through Lake Erie). Is this trend real? Is there actually a distance at which it's less polluting to fly than drive?

Here are some sample results...

New York to Detroit:
0.236 tons CO2 from driving
0.275 tons CO2 from flying
0.206 tons CO2 from travel by rail/bus

New York to St. Louis:
0.462 tons CO2 from driving
0.552 tons CO2 from flying
0.336 tons CO2 from travel by rail/bus

New York to San Francisco:
1.254 tons CO2 from driving
1.331 tons CO2 from flying
1.098 tons CO2 from travel by rail/bus

Tags
energy
environment

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