In our recent discussion of the relative demerits of various
forms of transport (4WD vs Jumbo jets, etc), I lacked any
real facts.
Now, with a little web surfing, I have come up with some
that show, as I suspected, that jumbo's are major pollutants.
Make your own conclusions about your next holiday
- in Aus (with a 4WD??) or overseas.
.................................................................
Estimates have shown that, for a 500-km journey, the emission of
CO2 per passenger-kilometre (pkm) is the
lowest for buses (22 g/pkm) and the highest for planes (146 g/pkm),
while high-speed trains and private cars emit
48 g/pkm and 86 g/pkm, respectively. Buses and planes are the
biggest emitters of NOx (479 mg/pkm and 440 mg/pkm);
private cars and high-speed trains emit much less NOx
(between 145 and 270 mg/pkm and 87mg/pkm).
[Data transmitted by the Government of the Netherlands.]
On average, the complete combustion of 1 kg of jet A1 aviation
fuel has been estimated to generate about 3.16
kg of CO2, 1.25 kg of H2O and 1 g of SO2. Estimates of fuel
sales to airlines suggest that this would amount to
more than half a billion tons of CO2 and some 2 million tons
of NOx emitted each year by aircraft worldwide.
94% of these emissions occur in the northern hemisphere, mainly
in North America (44%) and Europe (30%).
Most occur at an altitude of 9 to 13 km. It has been estimated
that 44% of all fuel is consumed above the
tropopause - the limit between the troposphere and the stratosphere.
Civil aviation is responsible for most of this
air pollution, but military aviation also plays a significant role.
The impact of light aviation is mainly local.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Lars NORDBERG, Deputy Director
Environment and Human Settlements Division
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations, Office 346
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone: (+41 22) 917 23 54
Fax: (+41 22) 907 01 07
E-mail:
.....................................................................
Cheers
Peter
Dr Peter Woodall email =
Division of Vet Pathology & Anatomy
School of Veterinary Science & An. Prod. Phone = +61 7 3365 2300
The University of Queensland Fax = +61 7 3365 1355
Brisbane, Qld, Australia 4072 WWW = http://www.uq.edu.au/~anpwooda
"hamba phezulu" (= "go higher" in isiZulu)
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