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Comment by Raphmedia | Hacker News Reader

"And, while von Badinski is aware that his flight comes with a significant carbon footprint, the Bay Area leg of his journey is more environmentally friendly. He keeps a plug-in hybrid vehicle at Oakland airport for the drive into San Francisco."

Could anyone do the math?

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Assuming a PC-12, about 79 gallons of jet fuel, one way. Seats for six, eight or nine people depending on the configuration. Let's say eight, so ten gallons of jet fuel per person per direction.

A gallon of jet fuel releases 20lbs of CO2, so 200lbs.

PC-12's are really efficient aircraft, both in terms of fuel usage, but also maintenance. Your average business jet costs 5-10 times more per hour to operate (not counting pilots)

How does this compare to, for instance, your average car running for an hour?

The average car will burn about three gallons of gasoline an hour cruising on the highway, so about 60lbs of CO2.

If you assume highway cruising to be 60mph, that's only 20mpg. That seems a low average for modern cars.

The average MPG of a new car is only about 25, and the average age of cars actually on the road is over a decade. And 60MPH is a slower highway cruising speed than I've seen anywhere outside of big cities or congested areas. 75+MPH is far more common.

A 25mpg, single occupancy car going the same Oakland to LA distance would use about 15 gallons of gas. Or about 300 lbs of CO2 (*depends on ethanol content)

So a fully occupied PC-12 releases less greenhouse gases per person for the same trip.

A plug-in hybrid?!

Given his length of time on the road, he'll burn more energy lugging that electric drivetrain around for the latter 80+% of his trip than if he drove a fuel-efficient gas or diesel car in the first place.

Sure, it’s a rounding error. Basically, it’s irrelevant.

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