Carbon Offsetting

I don't trust CO₂ carbon offset schemes. Just like every other charity, there is an efficiency rating for the process, and in my opinion the amount of good being done is minimal, if not negative.

Rather than try to ameliorate the situation with a band-aid solution, just use less fossil fuels in the first place. If you can't avoid flying, take it easy on the environment by bringing less with you.

For those who have to sit on their suitcases to close them, there is no salvation. But for normal people consider that it takes 2.5 liters of jet fuel to ship an extra kilogram across the Atlantic. A CO2 conversion chart says 2.52kg of CO₂ is produced for every liter of jet fuel. This means you can do 6.3kg of CO₂ offsetting by just not carrying an extra kilo.

To get that fuel consumption number took a little digging, and I present it here so others can ratify it if they want.

From Figure 4.8 Fuel Efficiency, the industry achieved 1630 Revenue Ton-Miles / 1000 liters in 2006. Revenue Ton-Miles is a measure of cargo amount. It is calculated by multiplying the weight in tons of the shipment being transported by the number of miles that it is transported. This metric includes only paid tonnage. In other words, only materials being transported for and being paid for by customers. Using 1.60934 kilometers/mile and 907.185 kg/ton, this works out to 4.2e-4 liters / kilogram-kilometer. For 6000 km trans Atlantic flight, you get about 2.5 liters / kilogram.

To put this in perspective, one penny is 2.35g, which needs 0.006 liters to cross the Atlantic. Using the current IATA Jet Fuel price of $3.08/(US)gallon (€0.61/liter), it costs nearly half a cent (0.48¢) to ship a penny. The airlines would be more environmentally friendly by converting your pocket change into paper bills just before you step on the aircraft. They could do this at a very customer advantageous exchange rate and still make money.

The airlines are on the right track in reducing luggage allowance and charging €75 for the extra 23kg piece of luggage ($100/50lbs). The next step is to charge per kilo of person. Fortunately for me, they don't do that yet.

The plane manufacturers can obviously do a lot more too, since 50-80% of the takeoff weight of an aircraft is just the plane.