As I flew from Honolulu to back St. Louis last week, I noticed some intriguing information in the
Continental Airlines magazine in the airlines' seat pocket. There was a description of the aircraft I was flying in: a
767-400ER. It said:
"Cruise speed: 540 mph
Capacity: 235
Propulsion: Two General Electric CF6-80C2B High Bypass Ratio turbofan engines,
rated up to 63,500 pounds thrust each
Wingspan: Up to 170 feet, 4 inches."
-- “Continental Fleet,” Continental magazine, December 2009 p. 113.
The magazine did not include information about how much fuel was consumed or how much carbon dioxide was being discharged on this 4,000 mile trip. Even with the impact divided / shared among the 235 passengers, air travel must be, I speculated, one of the most fuel-inefficient and most polluting forms of travel. But here are some sources that examined this question:
- "Energy Efficiency of different modes of transportation": http://bit.ly/6pi551
- "Transportation Cost - Benefit Analysis": http://www.vtpi.org/tca/
In Article #1, the 767-400ER is not listed, but a smaller aircraft, the 737 may be used for comparison. The 737 requires 547 liters of fuel for 100 meters carrying 137 passengers. Ont the other hand a Toyota Prius, requires 4.6 liters of fuel for 100 meters typically carrying 1 or 2 passengers (counting the driver). Thus on the 737, each passenger is responsible for less than 4 liters of fuel for the 100 meters. The bottom line is that a 737 aircraft flying at full capacity (137 passengers) is more fuel efficient on a per-person basis than a single-occupant driving a Toyota Prius!
Article #2 reviews other variables for the cost-benefit comparisons, and concludes that private automobiles are probably the most cost inefficient mode of transportation.
4 comments:
It seems outrageous to me that a 737 is more efficient than a Toyota Prius, especially since it is supposed to be such a fuel saver/energy helper. I believe the research that has been found in relation to it, this only leads me to hope that if they can make an aircraft this fuel effecient then hopefully there will be better things in store for automobiles.
What year Prius are we talking about? If it is the current model, then it doesn't surprise me...
Does anyone know what the law changes were that made the cars drop in fuel efficiency from 2006 to 2007+?
The comparison of fuel efficiency among various modes of transportation is listed in article #1 in the post: http://bit.ly/6pi551. Please examine this article critically. The data may need to be verified by another source. Also it is possible that I may have misinterpreted the information and come to an incorrect conclusion.
I clicked the link and got a warning sign that the website would be harmful to my computer.
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