Aviation and the Environment

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Aviation the Environment
2
Climate Change
3
Concorde Combustion
Carbon dioxide
water
Carbon dioxide
combustion
Hydrocarbon Fuel
Carbon dioxide
4
Carbon Balance
5
Trains, Planes Automobiles
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Some typical Carbon Dioxide outputs
From 5-100 grams of CO2 per passenger km
From 80-200 grams of CO2 per passenger km
From 35-120 grams of CO2 per passenger km
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Teachers Hints

• Numbers for CO2 of trains, planes and automobiles
  assume around half passenger load. Technically
  known as a 50 load factor.
• For a four-seat car, 50 load factor means two
  people. Lower figure is for a typical family car
  (like the Ford Focus) up to a 4x4 type vehicle
• The average load factor for aircraft is actually
  around 70, but is highly dependent on the route.
  It is also very seasonal, and varies by time of
  flight too.
• Eurostar has capacity for around 750 passengers.
  Load factors for Eurostar are hard to come by, so
  this is a rough estimate. The CO2 output depends
  on the type of train some are diesel, some are
  electric (like Eurostar). Electricity may come
  from coal-fired power stations, which kick out a
  lot of CO2, or nuclear or renewable energy
  stations, which produce little or no CO2.
• You can make any form of transport look more
  environmentally than any other by manipulating
  the load factor. This is often done, there is
  probably no correct answer. For example, trains
  are fuller in France and Japan, so average load
  factors higher. This makes trains seem more
  environmentally friendly than in, say, the UK.
• These numbers are only for illustrative purposes,
  they vary with vehicle type, journey length and
  load factor!
• They form an interesting basis for discussion
  about public perception and media spin of
  scientific facts.

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Is it more environmentally friendly to fly to
Spain or drive?

• Challenge
• Choose a destination in Spain, with an airport!
• Decide
• who you are taking with you in the car?
• Who is going on the plane with you and how many
  passengers the plane will carry in total?
• Work out the number of km to get to your
  destination by
• air,
• car.
• 3. Work out the total carbon out put for each
  journey per person.
• 4. Then try to
• find out if the carbon output of areoplanes is
  more harmful than that of cars.
• Do your findings agree with what is being said in
  the news? (look at BBC News , The Times, The
  Independent, etc)
• Decide whether you think it is more environmental
  friendly to fly or drive to Spain and design an
  A4 promotional poster to support your view. Make
  sure your names are on it.

Lesson plan courtesy of Pauline Jones, South
Wilts Grammar School for Girls
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Teachers Hints

• Why not setup 2-3 groups to support/argue the
  case for and against different modes of
  transport?
• www.futureflight.org for more related activities
• You can design different airplanes on the website
  to try and reduce fuel consumption
• Please do e-mail us with feedback
  info_at_futureflight.org