Summer vacation? Traveling on a plane or car?

A recent article analyzed the fuel efficiency of airlines and found they get 60 to 75 seat miles per gallon of fuel in 2009.  Better than the 50 mpg of a Toyota Prius hybrid automobile. Alaska, JetBlue, Southwest, and Continental were best.  The most fuel efficient planes were the Boeing 777-200ER wide body at 82 mpg and Boeing 737-900 at 99 mpg.  The Airbus A320 at 77 mpg is their best.

Want to go a step further? We noticed a Climate passport kiosk in the airport.  You can pay to offset your airplanes emissions. A 2,000 Miles (4 hr flight) generates 1,869 lbs of  CO2, and costs $11.44 to offset.  The money goes toward:

“The Carbon Offsets purchased through the Climate Passport Carbon Footprint Calculator are sourced from the Garcia River Forest, a conservation-based forest management project located in Mendocino County, California. The project achieves multiple goals including: increased sequestration and storage of carbon in native redwood forests, wildlife habitat restoration, and a sustainable supply of certified wood products.”

Tripbase has a CO2 Emissions Calculator that’s been made to help people out with being a bit more green and socially responsible when it comes to flying.