BERKELEY, Calif., June 9 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have studied the often ignored environmental impacts of travel, creating a framework to help calculate such costs.
University of California-Berkeley scientists said their new framework incorporates less considered environmental impacts including damage done by the power plants generating electricity for rail travel, upkeep of train stations, the intensive energy costs of airport runway construction and ore extraction undertaken to build a car.
The scientists said their research produced some surprising conclusions. A comparison between light railways in both Boston and San Francisco showed that despite Boston boasting a light railway with low operational energy use, it is a far larger greenhouse gas emitter because 82 percent of the energy generated in Boston is fossil-fuel based, compared with only 49 percent in San Francisco.
Total life-cycle energy inputs and GHG emissions contribute an additional 155 percent for rail, 63 percent for cars and buses and 32 percent for air systems over vehicle exhaust pipe operation.
"This study creates a framework for comprehensive environmental inventorying of several modes and future assessment of non-conventional fuels and vehicles can follow this methodology in creating technology-specific results," Mikhail Chester, a researcher at Berkeley who led the study, said. "Through the use of life-cycle environmental assessments, energy and emission reduction decision-making can benefit from the identified interdependencies among processes, services and products."
The study is reported in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
