Airlines and the Environment

The July 28 Washington Post business section has a feature article about U.S. airlines’ efforts to promote their “greenness.” A graph shows improvement in passenger-miles per gallon in recent years.

But the article does not explain the difference between energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions, and does not explain radiative forcing, that is, the fact that airline carbon emissions must be multiplied by between two and four to get the climate impact, which is magnified when CO2 is emitted at high altitudes.

There’s extensive coverage of the issue of carbon emissions in the August issue of NARP News, available on our members-only website back on the regular NARP homepage.

—Dave Johnson