Loco

In 2007 I was busy calculating the environmental cost of my decision to travel to Costa Rica aboard a cargo ship. This involved rather a lot of ludicrous sums involving a weighing scale, a vintage Casio and some bananas.

Estimating my weight in tropical fruit was the only the beginning – I’d also stumbled across the highly useful statistic that my ship could carry the weight equivalent of 100,000 passengers. However, due to limited space and issues of efficiency the passengers would probably have to forgo the “in-flight” meal and may or may not have to be vacuum packed.

Low carbon travellers of the world can breathe a collective sigh of relief. In 2010, rather than concerning myself with how to fit 100,000 60 kg humans onto a boat I am now engaged by rather more humane ways of doing my bit.

The first thing which got my brain ticking over this week was the interesting and rather surprising news that flushing the toilet aboard an aeroplane uses an estimated 1 litre of fuel. The Casio came out again: that means that if everyone on a Boeing 747 goes to the loo three times in a ten hour flight we’re talking about 1400 litres of fuel. This amounts to almost half the annual fuel consumption of a  typical UK driver! I’m not quite as mad as to suggest that people don’t use the toilet – after all, long haul flights are punishment enough as far as I’m concerned – but it does raise some issues about efficiency. An electric toilet valve? honestly!

The same article furnished me with the news that some airlines are adopting interesting measures to increase the efficiency of their aeroplanes; such as using only lightweight plastic cutlery, omitting olives from their menus (food miles I assume) and banning fat passengers. OK so they haven’t actually banned fat people but it’s good to see efficiency is on the agenda. Perhaps a tax for heavier passengers (and their “excess luggage”) isn’t as far off as it seems. Granted these initiatives are  currently motivated by saving a few pounds (and lbs) but as fuel becomes more expensive these things will only become more important.

Another solution, or at least a step in the right direction, might be lurking in your kitchen. Although it’s far from an exact science, becoming a vegetarian is another way to ease your carbon for 10:10. The generally accepted figure is that following a locto-ovo vegetarian diet, i.e. one that includes eggs and dairy but omits meat, can save as much as 1 ton of CO2 a year. So next time you’re planning your holidays consider this: a short haul flight in carbon terms would cost you two years of vegetarianism. Food for thought eh?!

Burning off a few extra calories to improve efficiency

Photo: Ian Ransley

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