Environmental Science

   Prince Charles has recently been criticized for his excessive air travel around the world. He decided to skip a ski vacation to Switzerland but was still accused of traveling by air too much after he went to the U.S. to receive and environmental award. Critics are so hung up on this issue because researchers ahve found that “planes’ carbon emissions have more of a warming effect on the environment than cars do.” It is estimated that “5,200 pounds of carbon PER PASSENGER is emitted in a round-trip flight between New York City and Tokyo.” I researched about how many passengers would fit on that large of a plane and this is what I came up with:

5,200 lbs. / 1 passenger = X lbs. / 450 passengers

X = 2,340,000 lbs.

So well over 2 million pounds of carbon would be emitted in the round trip from New York to Tokyo in a full 747 airplane.

  Although airline pollution only “contributes to 1.6% of greenhouse gases,” researchers say this “number is rising fast” as more and more people flying annually.

(Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org)

  The problem is it is too hard to tell people not to fly because there is no other form of transportation that is that efficient. The next step down is a train which cannot go over water and is definately slower than a plane. A large plane flies about 420 to 580 mph, while the speed record for a train is 343 mph, but average around 125 mph. Another problem is planes require a lot of fuel and as long as an alternative fuel for smaller vehicles like cars is not created, there is no way to have one for planes. So for the moment this problem seems unsolvable until technology allows other equally efficient modes of travel and/or a better fuel source.

Sources:

• Time Magazine, “Greenhouse Airlines,” February 12, 2007, pg. 57
• http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/2610589/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_airplane