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Fly less!
From TipThePlanet
- Planes produce enourmous quantities of greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing the number of flights you take could be the single most effective way to reduce your personal contribution to global warming.
- When looking at cheap flights consider the environmental cost as well as the financial. Try to ration your number of flights, or avoid flying altogether.
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Tips for flying less
- Pledge to limit or stop your flights at www.flightpledge.org.uk
- Try to reduce the amount of business flights taken by the organisation you work for.
- Research train and boat options at www.nofly.co.uk and The man in seat 61
- Find out how other travellers go green on Green Traveller.
- Remember, much of Europe is within easy TGV reach. There are also a lot of coaches about, which tend to be slower but cheaper than the trains
- If you really can't avoid flying, avoid night flights and flying during winter - especially long haul: new research shows that both create more carbon dioxide emissions.
- Newer planes will be more efficient than older, so think about this when booking with an airline.
- Landing and taking off will increase carbon emmissions, so try to fly direct, even if it costs a little more.
Industry Measures
On the operational front, airlines can:
- employing single-engine taxi procedures during normal operations and selective engine shutdown during ground delays
- reducing and measuring more accurately onboard weight while redistributing belly cargo
- tankering extra fuel on certain flights to avoid refueling at more expensive locations - but this increases emissions
- cruising longer at higher altitudes and employing shorter, steeper approaches
In terms of planning for fuel usage, airlines are:
- optimizing flight planning for minimum fuel-burn routes and altitudes
- working with FAA to change en-route fuel reserve requirements to reflect state-of-the-art navigation, communication, surveillance and wind forecast systems
- employing self-imposed ground delays to reduce airborne holding
- modernizing their fleets with more fuel-efficient airplanes
- investing in winglets to reduce aircraft drag and thereby increase fuel conservation
- redesigning hubs and schedules to alleviate congestion
- advocating expanded and improved airfield capacity
- using airport power rather than onboard auxiliary power units (APUs) when at the gates
- changing paint schemes to minimize heat absorption (which requires additional cooling)
- altering the location in which fuel is purchased (i.e., to avoid higher-priced west coast)
- pooling resources to purchase fuel in bulk through alliances with other carriers
