24
votes
Accepted
Most environmentally friendly mode of transport
This question is addressed in a paper by Shibahara et al, 2013 (doi:10.2208/jscejipm.68.I_285). They don't discuss walking, but they do discuss bicycling, which I suppose is a more realistic method ...
- 1,077
18
votes
Is driving an electric car any better than driving a conventional car if electricity is generated with fossil fuel?
Yes.
The hard limit on the efficiency of a heat engine is the Carnot efficiency: the amount of usable energy extracted from a heat source is limited by the temperature of the heat source and the ...
- 618
13
votes
Is driving an electric car any better than driving a conventional car if electricity is generated with fossil fuel?
Volvo have done an interesting study on this recently, looking at whole-lifecycle emissions for a BEV (battery electric vehicle) XC40 versus a ICE (internal combusion engine) XC40. A vehicle life-...
- 387
7
votes
Home delivery versus going to stores: how does fuel usage for transport compare? Any studies available?
Unfortunately there are not many studies available on this subject and, as you wrote, the answer depends a lot on the country and on the city.
This article on the Guardian analyses the study Impacts ...
- 191
7
votes
Accepted
Is flying more sustainable than taking the train?
I am not able to find any studies comparing the energy consumption. But if we look at a paper investigating emissions directly, which one could argue is an even better proxy for sustainability than ...
7
votes
Accepted
Does 1 container ship really pollute as much as 50,000,000 cars?
It depends on how you define "pollution".
Cargo ships use some of the dirtiest fuels available: bunker fuel is basically what's left over after you refine all the good stuff out of crude oil....
- 618
6
votes
How can I make my family understand my CO2-emissions-related hesitation to fly in order to spend time with them?
Carbon offsets aren't a perfect solution by any means, but provided the activity being funded by the offset is genuine and sensible for the long term, carbon offsets could certainly be considered to ...
- 8,857
6
votes
Accepted
Does putting an automatic car in neutral when stopped help save petrol?
According to this answer over on mechanics.SE, below a certain engine RPM, your vehicle automatically disengages the torque converter. That is to say, when stopped, there isn't a fundamental ...
- 12k
6
votes
To what extent do CO2 emissions from motor vehicles vary?
CO2 is produced by burning the carbon in the fuel, so if your driving style causes you to use twice as much fuel, you will produce twice as much CO2. Driving aggressively can have a big impact on ...
- 333
6
votes
Plane and train greenhouse emissions - comparison taking infrastructure in account or not?
Cars, buses, trains, and planes: comparison including infrastructure
"Life-cycle Environmental Inventory of Passenger Transportation in the United States", a 2008 PhD dissertation, provides a ...
- 12k
6
votes
Which countries, regions, or cities have set a date to ban the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles?
The best list is probably wikipedia: Phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles
There is a good review from the World Economic Forum here, dated 2017, which discusses some of the different approaches taken, ...
- 1,021
6
votes
Efficiency of delivery services vs individuals travelling to purchase items?
The Umweltbundesamt (sort of German EPA, I figure) recently released a new study on the "Ecologisation of online shopping" - which obviously is in German. Anyway, core findings are that ...
- 587
5
votes
Being a sustainable Digital Nomad in a Van - First Steps
Three routes:
A: Your van has all your worldly possessions.
B: In addition you have a place you can store stuff.
C: Use a car towable R.V.
A: Everything is in your van.
Consider removing the ...
- 7,247
5
votes
Accepted
How can I make my family understand my CO2-emissions-related hesitation to fly in order to spend time with them?
KubaFYI, in light of the update you made to your question, I am submitting a second answer for your consideration.
The title of the question is "How can I make my family understand my CO2-emissions-...
- 2,889
5
votes
Accepted
How much CO2 does a plane produce per additional kg of weight?
A few years ago, a question popped up that spurred me to do some research and crunch some numbers (https://sustainability.stackexchange.com/a/6204/4886):
I just calculated some more specific ...
- 2,889
5
votes
Accepted
Is driving an electric car any better than driving a conventional car if electricity is generated with fossil fuel?
Oh yes it is.
The fossil fuel of choice in electricity generation today is natural gas.
Natural gas combined cycle turbines run at 50% efficiency. Compare that to the 25% average efficiency of a car ...
- 5,249
5
votes
Accepted
Flying vs heating and cooling
Firstly, you have to notice that heating is not optional, it's mandatory. If you leave a home unheated, the water pipes will freeze.
So you could perhaps reduce half of the heating bill.
Where I live, ...
- 5,249
4
votes
What is required to make air travel sustainable?
Another option that could be explored (and indeed is, to a limited extent) is the increased use of airships. Being neutrally buoyant, they need much less energy per trip, and the propulsion could be ...
- 783
4
votes
Accepted
If I plan to drive on soft ground, what can I do to avoid sinking in?
The usual solution to avoid sinking into soft ground is to release some air from your tyres so that they bulge more. That increases the contact area with the earth, distributes the weight of the ...
- 2,889
4
votes
Accepted
Lowest energy use per passenger-km, electric bicycle or electric unicycle?
A two-wheeled electric scooter / bicycle uses less energy. You can take a look at the specifications of two-wheeled electric scooters and electric unicycles. Look at the battery size and the claimed ...
- 5,249
4
votes
Accepted
Electricity need to switch all cars from fossil fuel
By order of magnitude your approximation is reasonable. I compared it to a 2021 analysis performed by Mark Jacobson as part of his 100% Wind, Water, and Solar (WWS) All-Sector Energy Roadmaps for ...
- 12k
4
votes
Accepted
For airlines that have "vowed to offer carbon-neutral flights" how do they say they plan to actually make some flights demonstrably carbon-neutral?
One of the first airlines to initiate sustainability and carbon neutrality in it operations was Qantas.
It has a Carbon Action Plan, which includes things such as:
Establishing carbon offsetting ...
- 3,517
4
votes
Accepted
Does greener flights mean a lot less affordable flights?
The fact is: nobody knows.
Electric planes could be very useful for short distances. For long-distance flights, the battery cost investment is rather high, the weight of the plane increases rapidly (...
- 5,249
4
votes
Is there a business model to do carpentry without a vehicle?
No affiliation, but I have proof-ridden an Urban Arrow Tender at a large bicycle trade fair in Germany, and it would seem to fit a lot of stuff:
Urban Arrow Tender. Source: Greenbike Shop
...
- 2,659
3
votes
Accepted
In which cities "free" public transportation generated positive impact, no impact or negative impact to sustainability?
This 2009 article explains that making the bus (but not the subways) in New York free would save businesses that rely on currently-congested roads so much money that the city would be ahead based on ...
- 1,975
3
votes
How can I make my family understand my CO2-emissions-related hesitation to fly in order to spend time with them?
I recently returned to NZ after visiting family in the UK for Christmas. This is a round trip of some 40,000km. My solution is to pay for some 60 trees to be planted, here in NZ.
This is not a perfect ...
- 31
3
votes
What is required to make air travel sustainable?
For all-electric passenger jets, battery capacity must increase to hold four times more energy per unit mass
Currently available batteries have poor specific energy compared to jet fuel:
Jet fuel: ...
- 12k
3
votes
Most environmentally friendly mode of transport
Canoe! Seriously; depends where you're going. On moving water, when you're not paddling, it's gravity powered transportation. When you do paddle, there's often very little air resistance while you ...
- 31
3
votes
How can I make my family understand my CO2-emissions-related hesitation to fly in order to spend time with them?
"1.3 tonnes of CO2" is a figure that someone came up with by averaging the fuel per passenger trip and then converting it to emissions. It's not a number you actually need to worry about.
Think ...
- 2,889
3
votes
Is flying more sustainable than taking the train?
That's an interesting paper that you've linked. From a non-expert skim, three things spring to mind:
Firstly, that it doesn't compare like with like. Air travel is compared with commuter rail, and ...
- 3,732
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible