Google 'airbrushes' out emissions from flying, BBC reveals

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Google 'airbrushes' out emissions from flying, BBC reveals

By Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor

25 August 2022

The way Google calculates the climate impact of your flights has changed, the BBC has discovered.

Flights now appear to have much less impact on the environment than before.

That's because the world's biggest search engine has taken a key driver of global warming out of its online carbon flight calculator.

"Google has airbrushed a huge chunk of the aviation industry's climate impacts from its pages" says Dr Doug Parr, chief scientist of Greenpeace.

With Google hosting nine out of every 10 online searches, this could have wide repercussions for people's travel decisions.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62664981


Source: Google

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. This calculus is pretty friggin simple anyway ...

The further you fly, the greater the carbon emission impact.

So if you're going to fly, choose to fly somewhere closer to where you start from if you want to lower emissions.

Probably the most important facts here depend on the age/condition/model of the particular plane you're on, and how many other people are on the flight. Which don't seem to be part of the calculus either before or after, unless I'm misreading.

Assuming I'm right, it was shit data before, and now it's maybe just a bit shittier.

[PSPS]

2. Just in time for the ignominious return of supersonic planes.

If we were really serious about global warming, we wouldn't be announcing a new fleet of supersonic planes.

[Miguelito Loveless]

3. They've been announcing new SST for years

Yet to see actual production.

[PSPS]

4. "American Airlines has agreed to purchase 20 supersonic Overture planes from Boom Supersonic."

I guess we'll see if this is any different.

From 8/16/22

American Airlines has agreed to purchase 20 supersonic Overture planes from Boom Supersonic, the companies announced Tuesday. The deal is the second firm order in the last two years for Boom, still years from building its first commercial airplane. United Airlines made a commitment last year to buy 15 Overture jets.

"Passengers want flights that are faster, more convenient, more sustainable and that’s what Overture delivers,” Boom CEO Blake Scholl told CNBC. “Flight times can be as little as half as what we have today, and that works great in networks like American where we can fly Miami to London in less than five hours.”

Boom says the Overture jet will fly as fast as Mach 1.7, or 1,304 mph, dramatically cutting trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flight times. For example, a flight from Seattle to Tokyo, which typically takes just over 10 hours, could be completed in six hours in an Overture, according to Boom.

“Supersonic travel will be an important part of our ability to deliver for our customers,” American’s chief financial officer, Derek Kerr, said in a statement announcing the order. American is paying Boom an undisclosed amount as a nonrefundable deposit.

More: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/16/american-airlines-agrees-to-buy-20-supersonic-planes-from-boom.html