Fuel Efficient Travelby Dharmendra Kapri | 29-07-2014 17:29 |
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Professor Michael Sivak, at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute draws a surprising conclusion in one of his recent studies that flying is actually better than driving, When the amount of energy used is measured. In fact, everything seems better than driving. A long distance train uses 1,668 BTU per person mile. Planes use 2,691 and cars a staggering 4,218. (BTU, or British Thermal Unit, per person mile is measure of energy used to move a person a mile) The balance has shifted since the 1970s, when the energy per person mile was about twice as much for flying than for driving. Now, cramming more people onto planes makes them more efficient per person. The load in aircraft, for better or worse, has increased, while the load in cars has decreased. So the energy is spread across fewer people in a car. To match the emissions levels of flying, the US car fleet needs either to improve from the current 21.5 mpg on average to at least 33.8 mpg, or carry 2.3 people per trip instead of the current 1.38 people.
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