Galway -> London... Carbon Calculation

chat2joe

Hey Guys,

Friend of mine who is travelling Galway to London decided to get the Ferry over instead of flying to reduce her CO2 emmision for the trip. We were just crunching a few numbers and thought ye might be interested in the comparison as it's a very common route, or maybe even correct us if they're dodgy.

Found some CO2 (kg/km) values from here. We upped the "Express Bus" from 0.08 to 0.10 as it does stop a bit.

Bus: Galway to Dublin = 214km @ 0.1 kg/km = 21.4kg
Ferry: Dublin to Holyhead = 104km @ 0.47kg/km = 48.88kg
Bus: Holyhead to London = 464km @ 0.1kg/km = 46.4km
Total = 116.68 kg CO2

OR

Flight: Galway to London = aprox 649km @ 0.51kg/km = 330.99 kg CO2

OR

Bus: Galway to Dublin = 214km @ 0.1kg/km = 21.4kg
Flight: Dublin to London = aprox 457km @ 0.51kg/km = 233.07kg
Total = 254.47 kg CO2

That look right?

Joe

mumhaabu

Take the train it will probably be greener though more expensive. It is a less stressful way to travel sail & rail especially if you have had a few horror tales with Ruinair.

Still flying is quicker and handier unless you have a lot of baggage. Plus as a non believer of global warming its what I do although I am more inclined for the the sail & rail or bus to England. I am also known to drive there occasionally except London traffic can be an experience to say the least!

I have emmitted over 100 tonnes of Co2 so far since Jan 1st and look set to emit over 250 tonnes by Dec 31st. God gave us the earth to do with it as we please and I'll be damned before the green party will make one change to my lifestyle.

BendiBus

mumhaabu wrote: »

God gave us the earth to do with it as we please and I'll be damned before the green party will make one change to my lifestyle.

Do you have kids? What type of world would you like to leave for them to live in? And before I'm accused of being one of those fanatical greens I'm a regular flyer and just back from a totally unnecessary Ryanair day trip to London.

taram

mumhaabu wrote: »

I have emmitted over 100 tonnes of Co2 so far since Jan 1st and look set to emit over 250 tonnes by Dec 31st. God gave us the earth to do with it as we please and I'll be damned before the green party will make one change to my lifestyle.

I'll probably emit about 100 tonnes too due to numerous, numerous flights, but jesus, it's not the green party that are the problem here, it's the pollution. So you don't believe in global warming, big whoop, but you can't deny pollution!

blackbox

BendiBus wrote: »

Do you have kids? What type of world would you like to leave for them to live in? And before I'm accused of being one of those fanatical greens I'm a regular flyer and just back from a totally unnecessary Ryanair day trip to London.

If you care about the planet, the single biggest contribution you could make is not to have any kids.

colly10

Your figures for the bus CO2 emissions look way off the mark, how could a bus produce a good bit less CO2 than an 1.4 litre audi A4?

chat2joe

I assume that's per person on the bus..?

mumhaabu

blackbox wrote: »

If you care about the planet, the single biggest contribution you could make is not to have any kids.

With bleeding heart Green Liberal Eco-Fascist attitudes like that I nearly wouldn't either for fear they might be brainwashed by the liberal media and grow up to have attitudes like yours. (providing you are grown up that is).

The best thing we can do for the planet is curb population growth in the third world. Population growth in Europe should be encouraged to break the demographic decline and increase the native population stock not import the third world surplus from elsewhere; Kevin Myer's article was an excellent example of how unrestrained population growth in Africa is killing that continent. If it wasn't for all those new consumers in China and India we wouldn't have $145 Oil or the Food crisis.

There is only so much wealth in the world and I for one prefer to see it kept in the Western Hemisphere 1st World Countries. However the banking elite are convinced they can spread it around in some sort of utopian communist vision, so they keep printing money everyday leading to inflation in our countires and more bad news for the environment.

So Having Kids = Naturally good so long as they have a future.
Eco-Liberal Attitudes = Darwinism at work.

Riskymove

A bleeding heart liberal facist?:eek:

an interesting notion

alpha2zulu

I'm not sure what the exact carbon amount this is, but to put things in perspective, a full Aer Arann flight from Galway to London will use the equivalent of 13-14 litres of fuel per passenger. Many carbon calculating sites are based on jet aircraft, which would use a higher amount than an Aer Arann turboprop aircraft, hence the figure given here of

Flight: Galway to London = aprox 649km @ 0.51kg/km = 330.99 kg CO2

A ferry/train combination would find it very hard pushed to beat this level of fuel consumption and I feel that the friend of the OP is if anything, wasteing their time in enduring the long trek by ferry when the flight will have you in London in 90 minutes.