Questions tagged [transport]
moving people or freight from one place to another. This includes use of cars, trucks, buses, aircraft, watercraft, as well as non-fuel-intensive transportation. For questions specifically about cars use that tag.
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How effective is turning a car's engine off while standing at a traffic light?
I know some countries enforce having cars automatically shut down the engine when stopping at a traffic light.
How much resources are really saved by this process?
Does the car need to be ...
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What hydrocarbons are produced by a diesel motor?
HC (I assume hydrocarbons) is a column in the euro emission standards for trucks & buses. Which hydrocarbons are produced and at what quantities?
Would the particulate matter emissions be ...
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How do hybrid planes work?
How do hybrid planes work? Where does electricity come from?
Faradair is planning to develop and sell a hybrid-electric passenger plane, aimed at the regional aviation market. It would have up to 19 ...
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Does greener flights mean a lot less affordable flights?
They plan to decarbonize the aviation industry in two ways: electric planes and hydrogen-powered planes. But in any case it implies fewer passenger seats and, as a result, a dramatic increase in ...
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Why has road freight got less efficent in recent years?
The UK government publishes energy use statistics, and this includes energy efficiency of various sectors. Most sectors have managed to increase efficiency over the last 3 decades, for example road ...
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For airlines that have "vowed to offer carbon-neutral flights" how do they say they plan to actually make some flights demonstrably carbon-neutral?
CNN's June 20, 2022 Boeing unveils new 777 'ecoDemonstrator' test jet includes the following sentence near the end:
Many airlines have already vowed to offer carbon-neutral flights and explore ...
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Can you live in a Caravan for a long term? permanently?
To stay mobile, and also avoid the expensive cost of rent, can you live in a Caravan for a long term? or even permanently?
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Building/improving continental trains to replace intra-continent flights?
As the climate change emergency is high, I am wondering whether long-range train service across countries of same continents are being built to limit as much as possible flights (and cars) which are ...
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How efficiently do different vehicles convert stored energy to kinetic energy?
I came across this interesting infographic from the U.S. Department of Energy:
They provide a figure of 12 to 30% efficiency of a gasoline vehicle converting fuel energy into forward motion (or ...
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What is the most climate friendly way to travel from Copenhagen to Atlanta?
I will soon be going to Atlanta, GA, USA from Copenhagen, DK, and I would like know which of the following opportunities you think is the most climate-friendly way to travel:
Flying from CPH to ...
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Impact of various travelling options
Are there any objective resources to estimate the ecological impact of various travel alternatives? Sites like Bahn.de offer to calculate it, but they obviously favour trains. I've asked a question on ...
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Flying vs heating and cooling
In some regions, summer is cool and there's little use of air conditioning. In other regions, winter is mild and there's little use of heating.
Suppose a household adopted the practice of flying ...
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What is the sustainablity of working from home compared to the office
I'm looking for sources that can give some reasoned arguments about Telecommuting in sustainablity terms - how much of an energy costs in there to working at home compared with commuting X miles in Y ...
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When the topic of transport decarbonization comes up, all I hear is batteries and hydrogen. But what about renewable natural gas (RNG)?
When the topic of transport decarbonization comes up, all I hear is batteries and hydrogen. But what about renewable natural gas (RNG)? The milage is better, less energy loss, as I understand. You can ...
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Is driving an electric car any better than driving a conventional car if electricity is generated with fossil fuel?
Is driving an electric car any better, GHG-wise, than driving a conventional car if 100% of its electricity is generated by fossil fuel combustion? Are there any peer-reviewed studies of that?
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How to determine whether hybrid cars are really more sustainable than traditional cars?
I purchased a Prius many years ago, but many of my friends have put forth claims that the batteries are very toxic and thus I may in fact be creating more harm than good in using a hybrid and that ...
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Method of transport with decent speed/low cost without a driving license?
I'm looking for something a little bit better than your average bike in terms of transportation potential, but cannot be a license-required vehicle as I cannot get a driver's license. I also don't ...
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Lowest energy use per passenger-km, electric bicycle or electric unicycle?
Which uses less electrical energy per passenger-km (pkm) travelled?
Electric bicycle (with a single rider)
Electric unicycle (aka. self-balancing personal transporter)
I have heard that a standard ...
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Does 1 container ship really pollute as much as 50,000,000 cars?
I remember seeing many news articles and posts on social media saying that a single container ship pollutes as much as 50 million cars. Is this true? How could that be possible?
https://tech.slashdot....
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Electricity need to switch all cars from fossil fuel
For purely hypothetical discussion, I was asking myself how big electrical production increase would be needed for a first-world country when switching all cars from fossil fuel to EV only.
I made the ...
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What is the climate impact of shared electric kick scooter systems?
During the last few years, shared electric kick scooter systems such as Voi and Tier have become common where I live. The system consists of a number of shared electric kick scooters scattered around ...
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Which countries, regions, or cities have set a date to ban the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles?
This week, the UK announced that sale of gasoline and diesel cars will be banned by 2035. This new policy moves the date up by five years, and also includes hybrid vehicles. From 2035 on, only ...
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Does a single Euro VI bus really release less NOx than a euro 6 diesel car?
A transport expert claimed that a Euro 6 car has fewer NOx emissions than a Euro VI bus, surely this cannot be correct?!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_emission_standards
Euro 6b (diesel car) -...
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How much weight would a wireless charging system add to an electric bus?
Wireless charging requires a number of 'receiving charging pad's and a 'management module' and I imagine there will be additional wiring. How much extra weight does this add to an electric bus?
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Can Asphalt and concrete be recycled at long term?
Asphalt and concrete are substances where a lot of heavy metals and other materials being hazardous to one's health are being "deposited". But what to do with them when concrete and asphalt have ...
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Are there long-distance water pipelines emanating from the North American Great Lakes region? Why or why not?
Are there long-distance water pipelines emanating from the North American Great Lakes region? Why or why not? Under what circumstances would this be an ecologically reasonable way to provide water to ...
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Efficiency of delivery services vs individuals travelling to purchase items?
Is it more efficient for a supermarket to send a van round to deliver stuff (eg a weekly/monthly shop for groceries) to multiple addresses, or for those people to drive (locally) to go and get it?
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Is buying online more sustainable than in local shop next door?
I was planning to buy a toy. I can buy it online and in local shop next door. Price is (including shipping in case of online shop) more or less the same. Is one more sustainable than the other?
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What is the difference in CO2 emissions between new and old double decker buses?
The Euro 6 bus WHTC test cycle here shows a value of 4.0 carbon dioxide and the Euro 5 ESC & ELR test cycles show a value of 1.5 CO.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_emission_standards
It ...
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How can I make my family understand my CO2-emissions-related hesitation to fly in order to spend time with them?
I live in another country, approximately 2000 miles away from my family. Now, my parents have really hard time understanding the kind of personal sacrifices which are necessary to keep the world a ...
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Most environmentally friendly mode of transport
You often hear "Walk, it's better for the environment", but is that actually true?
If I walk 5 miles instead of taking say a public bus, given that I now will need to replace the energy I spent ...
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How much CO2 does a plane produce per additional kg of weight?
There are many figures regarding how much CO2 is emitted per passenger and per km.
However, I have not been able to find anywhere how much CO2 would an airplane emit if it has to carry an additional ...
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Plane and train greenhouse emissions - comparison taking infrastructure in account or not?
In the news or various other places, we see often that train travel produces significantly less greenhouse gas than air travel, without much information about how this is calculated. For example here :...
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How much of a reduction of carbon emissions can be achieved if a diesel bus is switched out for electric?
My city council has pledged to try and be carbon neutral by 2030 as part of the Global Covenant of Mayors and are investigating ways to achieve that.
I'd like to bring forth an idea to replace our ...
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How to design a taxi rank to charge electric vehicles whilst waiting for fares?
This post deals with the design of a taxi rank and how to reduce the pollution created by idling and edging foroward. A few answers suggested that making the taxis switch to hybrids, or even better ...
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How to prevent pollution caused by a taxi rank? Is there a solution to the 'edging forward' cost of cars in a queue?
I am looking at ways in which a heavily polluting taxi rank near a train station could reduce its pollution footprint. My first thought was that the pollution was mostly down to idling and I am ...
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Preventing idling - ideas to keep warm in a car when the engine is off and it is cold outside
I have asked a few people whose cars are idling if they mind switching them off to reduce pollution. One response I get from quite a lot of people is that they need to keep the car running to enable ...
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Why are new cars being built in the UK / europe without Start-Stop technology when it seems it can lower pollution?
Everything I have read online seems to indicate that start / stop technology reduces air pollution, is (marginally) better for the engine, reduces emissions and is more economical (link1, link2, link3)...
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EU Real Driving Emissions testing (RDE) - does it factor in real driver behaviour and the inefficient driving habits they often exhibit?
Drivers often floor it at the lights, a large number switch off their start/stop systems, they might idle for an hour to listen to the radio, exceed the speed limit and exhibit other inefficient ...
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If I plan to drive on soft ground, what can I do to avoid sinking in?
I'm expecting tons of wood chips to be dropped off in part of my yard every day this year, and am wondering what I need to do so the arborist can easily drop them off as close to where I want them as ...
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Does Start / Stop technology in cars have an impact on air quality and by how much?
I have repeatedly heard from various car enthusiasts that start stop technology has no benefit in improving air quality (or the tiniest smallest negligble benefit). Does it have an effect and how much?...
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How does the climate impact of an LNG-powered cruise ship compare to flying?
Taking the Iona as an example, it is claimed that
"The cruise ship will have a reduced carbon footprint with zero sulphur and nitrogen emissions."
Sulphur and nitrogen, while pollutants, are not ...
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Should I use a plastic trash bag for my recycling bin at home or not?
I want to have a recycling bin at home in addition to a trash bin.
Should I line my recycling bin with a trash bag and bag it up when it's full to toss in the dumpster's recycling bin? Or should I ...
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To what extent do CO2 emissions from motor vehicles vary?
Do the CO2 emissions from petrol / gas vehicles vary depending on driving style? Are emissions a function of the engine type or the fuel efficiency?
If a motor car is rated at 105 g/km, but it is ...
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Are there examples of (more) sustainable scientific conferences?
Scientists frequently speak out about the dangers of climate change, and I'm sure there are many scientists who make concious choices for their own lives with a view towards sustainability. But are ...
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Costs of transportation
I assume that it makes sense to ask for the energy costs of transportation of different goods per weight and volumetric mass density, depending on the means of transportation (truck, train, ship, etc.)...
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What measures could be taken to decrease the air pollution in a big city?
I live in Madrid, where like in most big cities there is a high level of air pollution, especially due to the traffic. The levels of pollution reached the maximum allowable level a couple of months ...
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How to persuade people that scrappage schemes & suchlike are a bad idea?
One idea frequently cited as a way of reducing pollution is the use of scrappage schemes and low-emission zones to persuade people to replace their old cars with newer, 'more efficient' ones. IMHO ...
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What is required to make air travel sustainable?
Is there a plausible scenario where humans can continue traveling in airplanes? I have heard that airplanes create a tremendous amount of greenhouse gas emissions, the global number of air miles ...
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Is delivery of mail to house doors by postal services more sustainable than picking up mail from a central location?
Today there exists more than one mail and parcel services to distribute deliveries. I wonder about sustainability effects, especially when you receive several deliveries a day. When everybody has to ...
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