e360 digest
08 Jun 2009:
Train Travel May Produce
More Emissions than Flying, Study Says
A new study that has examined all greenhouse gas emissions created by different modes of transportation concludes that supposedly green methods of travel, such as trains, may actually produce as many or more emissions as flying. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, said that while a large jet produces three times as many greenhouse gases per mile as a train during operation, the two modes of transport actually generate about the same amount of greenhouse gases per mile when the manufacture of steel rails and other train infrastructure is taken into account. Using this measure, cars generally were the highest greenhouse gas emitters per mile, with the exception of off-peak, largely empty buses, which had emissions levels per passenger mile exceeding even SUVs. Reporting their findings in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the scientists said planners should look beyond what comes out of the tailpipe and work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation infrastructure by using such materials as low carbon dioxide cement.
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