Carbon cost of travel

The Carbon Footprint of travel is a measurement in grams of carbon dioxide equivalents per passenger kilometre travelled. It includes carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and increased warming from aviation emissions at altitude. Source: UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy in 2019.

To be able to make an informed decision about what mode of transport to take it is useful to have an idea of their typical carbon footprints (remember, this is per kilometre): 

Domestic flights 255g

Long haul flights (economy) 150g

Bus 105g

National Rail 41g

Eurostar 6g

Medium size petrol car 192g

Medium size diesel car 171g

Medium size electric car 53g

A lot of our journeys are by car and there are quite a few steps we can take to minimise our carbon footprints on car journeys, with the added benefit that these will all be saving you money on fuel, so good for your pocket as well as good for the world!

Energy generated by the engine is proportional to the amount of fuel burned in an engine, the more fuel burned the higher the carbon footprint generated. See below for some examples of things that cause your engine to have to work harder to produce the required energy to drive the car.

Action: check your tyre pressures. Reason: underinflation increases frictional drag between the tyres and the road, causing the engine to work harder.

Action: get your car serviced regularly. Reason: dirty oil in the engine increases internal friction, causing it to have to work harder.

Action: remove any roof rack or roof box that is not being currently used.Reason: roof racks and boxes cause aerodynamic drag, again causing the engine to work harder. Keep the weight in the car to a minimum; carrying heavy items also causes the engine to have to work harder.

Action: Avoid hard acceleration and braking. Reason: hard acceleration causes the engine to work harder, and hard braking means a lot of the energy you have generated to drive the car has now been lost and turned into heat by the brakes.

I hope these simple ideas will help us all keep the negative impact of our travelling down. I find my grandchildren provide me with a real incentive to make the effort!