planes and boats and cars: the ecological footprint
No detailed info is yet available to assess the ecological footprint (EF) of interisland air versus the Hawai`i Superferry.
Yet, there is at least one study of transport footprints that sheds light on this topic.
The Stockholm Environment Institute conducted a 2001 EF analysis of transportation in the UK.
Their findings: ferries beat planes by 2.2 times and cars by 2.6 times.
But then, that was a few years ago, and much has changed. Cars, boats and planes are getting more fuel efficient and are being made differently.
The new jets flown by Hawaiian Air are among the most fuel efficient in the sky. Likewise, the Superferry has the cleanest, most fuel efficient turbocharged diesel power available.
Thus, general conclusions based on older data are merely suggestive of the magnitude of ecological impacts.
Of course, the ecological footprint of transport encompasses far more than fuel consumption, combining a number of important activities that have an impact on the environment, including:
- The carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane emissions from the burning of petroleum;
- The carbon dioxide emissions from the manufacture of vehicles;
- The carbon dioxide emissions from the maintenance of vehicles;
- The road space and other land that is put aside for transport (i.e. car parks).
All these various impacts of transport are converted into a land figure. This is done for all forms of transport thus permitting different impacts of transport to be compared on the same level, as well as comparing the impact of different forms of transport.
Here are the Ecological Footprint study results for each mode of transport (in hectares per 1000 passenger kilometers):
- Car (0.059)
- Air (0.050)
- Bus (0.043)
- Motorcycle (0.037)
- Ferry (0.023)
- Train (0.021)
- Bicycle (0.002)
For the record, the Stockholm Environment Institute is an independent, international research organisation committed to the implementation of practices supportive of global sustainable development.
Published by Ken on December 4th, 2006 tagged HI-specific, Island Vulnerabilities
2 Responses to “planes and boats and cars: the ecological footprint”
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December 5th, 2006 at 1:30 am
I wanted to clarify something on the ferry related postings I’ve read here:
What we are faced with is adding another lane to the inter-island/inter-continental freeway, not trading the one we have for something better. More lanes can carry more traffic. Rural character and more lanes don’t mix well.
So, although the comparisions between air travel and water travel seem to favor water, without a reduction in air travel, I feel that adding a ferry and more cruises to the mix won’t solve the issues, rather, they will increase the risk of a worser case scenario by adding another door to the hale.
December 5th, 2006 at 9:18 am
Sure, some folks are worried that the ferry will add traffic, yet this assumes there is pent-up demand for inter-island travel. If there were, we should see more traffic coming now with the new low airfares…which we don’t. Thus, every ferry passenger should mean one less air traveler. Moreover, this “new lane” goes both ways, so there should be little net addition to local traffic. In case it’s not clear, I don’t favor the ferry, per se; I’m in favor of reducing our travel footprint.