Testers take note: I've just made some changes to the figures used for flight calculations, so some of you may find that your carbon footprints have leapt up a bit (mine has)!
I was originally using DEFRA figures for aviation emissions, but they do not take into account the extra effect of releasing greenhouse gases at high altitude, which is estimated to be around 2.7 times higher! I've found some better figures, so hopefully the new numbers will reflect better the actual climate impact of flying. I've also added the ability to select your class of seat. First class seats take up around 3 times the room of an economy seat, so if you choose to fly this way, your emissions will be 3 times as high!
I'm trying out a new graphing engine this afternoon, and if it works, then hopefully I'll be able to release flights across the entire site later on today!
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2 comments:
Hi James,
Good to see the work on aviation. In regard to the multiplier there is some debate over this as I'm sure your aware. Tyndall said a few months back they aren't sure if it should be ~3 or if there should be one at all.
But its probably best to have something.
In regard to first class, while this may take up 3 times the space I'm not sure if it will really triple emissions. As its not so much the size of the aircraft that leads to emissions but its weight. The additional space in first class will not be three times the weight of the standard class?
Cheers,
Martin
Martin - that's exactly the problem with these estimates - nobody can agree exactly what they should be. I'm going to continue looking for an authoritative source for the numbers, but in the meantime all I can do is link to the source of the data I'm using now. The calculations page on the site now has the numbers I'm using on it, and a link to the source, so at least it's a bit more open. If you know of any accepted standards for these things, please let me know :)
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