Edition 30, the latest edition of the Transportation Energy Data Book, is available Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s website. ORNL publishes this under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy. The new edition contains data for both 2008 and 2009.
It shows that, in 2009, domestic airlines on average consumed 19.1% more energy per passenger-mile than Amtrak, while cars consumed 45.3% more than Amtrak. Looked at the other way round, Amtrak consumes 16.1% and 31.1% less energy per passenger-mile than airlines and cars, respectively. [One passenger-mile is one passenger traveling one mile.]
Those percentages are derived from these Oak Ridge figures (British Thermal Units or BTUs per passenger-mile, 2009 data), organized here most to least efficient:
Amtrak: 2,435 Commuter rail: 2,812 Rail transit: 2,516 Certificated air carriers: 2,901 (excludes international services) Automobiles: 3,538
As nationwide average figures, these figures do not reflect:
Externalities, which generally are positive for rail and negative for air. Rail tends to support pedestrian- and transit-friendly development;
The fact that short air flights are far more energy intensive than longer flights; and
The greater damage that aircraft emissions do because they occur at such high altitudes. (Financial Times reported on May 18, “because the gases [from flying] are emitted at a high altitude, they are estimated to have at least twice as much warming effect on the climate than if they were at ground level.”)
Other notes of interest:
Oak Ridge now recognizes one kilowatt-hour as equivalent to 10,339 BTUs (rather than the 11,765 used in previous years) and revised previous-year data to reflect this, so all passenger rail modes are shown as more efficient than in Edition 25);
Oak Ridge assumes 138,700 BTUs per gallon of diesel fuel, apparently a “timeless” figure as it was also used in a December 1977 report by Ram K. Mittal, Energy Intensity of Intercity Passenger Rail, prepared for U.S. DOT, Research and Special Programs Director, Office of University Research.
In 2005, Amtrak for the first time since 1995 was more energy efficient than both commuter rail and rail transit. This has continued every year since except for 2006, when rail transit was more energy-efficient than Amtrak.
Amtrak consumed 14.4 trillion BTUs in 2009, which was 9.4% less than 15.9 trillion in 2003 and 20.4% below Amtrak’s peak year of energy use (2001, with 18.1 trillion BTUs).
The tables you may find most useful are:
Table 2.12 Passenger travel and energy use, 2004
Table 2.13 Energy intensities of highway passenger modes, 1970-2005
Table 2.14 Energy intensities of nonhighway passenger modes, 1970-2005
Table 9.10 Historical Amtrak figures including car-miles, train-miles, etc.
Table 9.11 Summary statistics for commuter rail operations, 1984-2005
Table 9.12 Summary statistics for rail transit operations, 1970-2005
Table A.15 Intercity Rail Fuel Use
[Note: Table 2.12 has 2004 data because 2005 data is not yet available for some modes. As the relevant footnotes explain, the airline statistics in Table 2.12 include “1/2 of international scheduled services” whereas those in Table 2.14 do not include any international services. This report also has considerable freight data.]
The “What’s New” page for Edition 26 (2005 data) reports that, “The transportation share of U.S. energy use reached 28.4% in 2006 which is the highest share recorded since 1970.” The page also reflects a disturbing trend towards less information:
“Due to more stringent data restrictions imposed by R.L. Polk, the latest number of vehicles by age that we are allowed to publish is 2001.” (Tables 3.5 & 3.6)
The American Metals Market discontinued the survey which collected information on the average materials in a domestic car; therefore, the 2003 data are the latest available. (Table 4.14)
The Census Bureau has discontinued the Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey; the 2002 data are therefore the latest data available. (Tables 5.4–5.9)
The Department of Transportation has discontinued the National Household Travel Survey; therefore, the 2001 data are the latest data available. (Tables 8.5–8.13 & 8.17)
The EPA has not published new data from the National Emissions Inventory since the 2002 data; thus, Tables 12.1–12.11 remain unchanged.
When the hard-copy version of Edition 26 is available, it will be sent at no charge to anyone requesting this service on ORNL’s website. Simply enter your name and address in the e-mail message that pops up after you click on “Edition 26 Data Book Request.”
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