The United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) just launched a new website that lets users calculate their in-flight carbon footprint. All you have to do is enter your departure and arrival cities and indicate whether you are flying business or economy. Then, ICAO will instantly tell you how much carbon that route emits on a per-passenger basis. Here is how ICAO calculated my in flight carbon footprint from my trip to Chicago last weekend:
Route: from CHICAGO, IL (MDW) to WASHINGTON, DC (DCA) ( 964 Km)
* This itinerary is served by the following aircraft:
320,734,CR2,CR9
* Each flight consumes an average of 3,854 tons of fuel
* The average number of seats per flight is 146
* The average CO2 emitted per passenger is 0.12 tons
It could have been worse. I could have flown from Washington to Jeddah, which would have emitted 0.72 tons of new CO2.
(cross posted to On Day One)