Carbon footprint and airplanes
Eco-friendly flight
How many times have you taken a fligh? Traveling to a new place, meeting new people and culture. Did you know that flying cost more than just money? It comes with a price to our environment. Each flight you take contributes 285 grams of CO2 to our atmosphere, airplaines contributes more than cars, trains, boats and motocycles. However, there is really a cleaner way of taking a plane and soon in the future, airplane will be more ecofriendly and efficient.This image shows the difference in contribution of CO2 per passager for each transport |
How does planes polutes?
Planes can pollute in few different ways:
- The material used to build the plane- If the plane is heavier, it will require more fuels, so it will burn more and release more carbon to our atmosphere.
- Meals served- We all know that cow's fart contribute a lot of methane (a green house gas) to a atmosphere, so if you eat beef or just meat everytime, then it sure will contribute a lot of green house gases.
- The number of passager- If a plane had only few passagers or the cabin is half empty, then it would be a waste since it uses the same amount of fuel for less passager.
How to reduce our foot print?
There is a lot of ways to reduce our carbon footprint every time we take a flight:
- Choose airlines that pack their flight- it would reduce the carbon foot print per passager if the plane is full, because it uses the same amount of fuel for more people.
- Take aircrafts that are new- new aircrafts has more technology appropriate to reduce the amount of fuel used or the efficiency thus reducing the burning of fuel
- Take vegetables as meal- Meat contribute a lot of green houses gases during its production
Some airlines compagnies justify their climate change actions by creating offsets such as tree planting to reduce the impact from flying. At least, this is what they are claiming to do, some researchers suggest that this can actually do more harm than good. They suggested that by giving us the impression that the air travel industry can be eco-friendly, we will feel more comfortable taking more flights.
National Geographic has a nice infographie about the future of aiplanes, for more informations please visit the link bellow. |
Sources:
- “Eco-Friendly Airlines.” Virgin America | Book Flights and Save, www.alternativeairlines.com/eco-friendly-airlines.
- Glover, Andrew. “Sustainable Shopping: Is It Possible to Fly Sustainably?” The Conversation, The Conversation, 10 Jan. 2019, theconversation.com/sustainable-shopping-is-it-possible-to-fly-sustainably-88636.
- Yutko, Brian. “5 Advances That Will Change Air Travel.” National Geographic, National Geographic, 27 July 2017, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/urban-expeditions/transportation/green-aviation1/.
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