Jumbo jet co2 emissions ?

[Cinderella's Shoe]

Does anyone have a sensible answer to how much CO2 a jumbo jet emits when flying a typical transatlantic route - say london to new york

I have scoured the internet and can't seem to find a definite answer - some sites quote in kg per passenger, some in kg per km flown. All I'm trying to find out is how many tons of CO2 does a jumbo jet use on a typical return flight between london and new york?

I'm sure some orgers can help

[kev bev]

may i ask why?

[Rheghead]

Does anyone have a sensible answer to how much CO2 a jumbo jet emits when flying a typical transatlantic route - say london to new york

... some sites quote in kg per passenger, some in kg per km flown. All I'm trying to find out is how many tons of CO2 does a jumbo jet use on a typical return flight between london and new york?

I'm sure some orgers can help

Seems to me that you may have almost all the info that you need already, you just need to find the distance between London and New York in km and multiply that with what the site says in kg(CO2) per km flown/1000 and you have your answer.

If the info on the site is in kg of jet fuel per km then multiply by the distance in km then by (44/12000) to give tonnes of CO2 :)

[Cinderella's Shoe]

Kev Bev - its for a personal project

Rheghead - thank you. I do have that information but the aircraft flight line is not the same as the distance on the map, so its not that simple. It seemed a simple question to answer but a different issue comes up each time I go further!

I'm currently looking at www.chooseclimate.org/flying/mf.html which has a rather nifty little program to calculate emissions - but thats PER PASSENGER and so again I have to make assumptions.

So - UK to Florida looks like 1.6 tons per passenger - or a "global warming effect of 4.8 tons CO2 equivalent" - whatever that means. I think its taking into account other greenhouse gases produced.

So if the jet is 80% full as the calculation says - say 320 on a 400 person plane. then that gives 1.6 tons times 320 = 512 tons - that seems an awful lot for one flight!

Is this even the right ball-park?

[Rheghead]

Wikipedia gives max fuel payload for a 747 as 190,000 litres which would be about 150 tonnes of jet fuel.

Multiplying by the factor gives 152X(44/12)= 557 tonnes of CO2.

I've heard that they are nearly empty on a long haul flight over atlantic so it may seem in the right ballpark to me.

[Cinderella's Shoe]

Thanks - what i posted earlier was for a return flight so half that for a single trip.

[Rheghead]

Point taken, just noticed on wikipedia that maximum range for a 747 is ~12000km , which is a bit more than one flight across atlantic, I think.

So if 152 tonnes or 557 tonnes CO2 (max fuel payload) does 12,000km(max range) then london to US and back at your 512 tonnes (~11,500km) looks like about right to me?:confused

[scrumpysteve]

Maybe this link can help...

http://www.jpmorganclimatecare.com/

You can use the calculator for 1 or 320 passengers, any number really. You get a total amount of CO2 emissions for a return flight and the distance travelled.

I also found this if it's any help...

http://numero57.net/?p=255

Good luck