Life style and energy consumption - an analysis of life style's impact on energy consumption

There are considerable differences between the energy intensity of different types of aircraft and also between airlines. Old aircraft are generally more fuel-efficient than newer types, and aircraft used at short-haul are generally more fuel intensive than aircraft used at medium-haul and long haul. Therefore, airlines that operate new fuel-efficient aircraft over relatively long distances and at relatively high load factors are the most fuel-efficient. European charter carriers that operate aircraft with a high-density seatconfiguration at close to the optimum passenger load factor while only carrying insignificant amounts of freight are the most fuelefficient passenger carriers in the airline industry. Conversely, the most fuel-intensive airlines are to be found among the regional carriers that operate relatively small aircraft at below average load factors at short-haul routes. Aircraft used at long haul routes consume more fuel per available seat kilometre than the most fuel-efficient aircraft operated at medium-haul. However, if taking into account that passenger aircraft used at long haul routes by scheduled carriers generally transport relatively high loads of bellyhold freight, the fuel intensity per revenue passenger kilometre, or per revenue tonne kilometre, is also relatively low on these routes. The division of the fuel consumed by passenger aircraft between passenger and freight loads is not straightforward, and different methodologies can be used. The yearly improvement rate for the aircraft fleets' fuel efficiency can to some extent be speeded up by implementing new measures to promote-development of new and more fuel-efficient aircraft as well as the phasing out of older and more fuel intensive aircraft. Furthermore, a tax on jet fuel or emissions could potentially contribute by making current plans for developing GHG intensive highspeed and high-altitude aircraft types such as sonic cruisers or a new generation of supersonics less economically attractive to airlines. The strong growth in passenger air travel and airfreight is generated by social, technical, political and economic changes. People living in industrialised countries have become accustomed to travel by air and the building up of a large socio-technical system surrounding commercial civil air transport facilitates air travel growth. Airport and aircraft capacity is constantly enlarged, while the real cost of air travel is reduced. The building up of commercial civil air transport's socio-technical system is furthered by government subsidies, which again contribute to reduce airfares. National interests and geopolitics play important roles in the subsidisation of commercial civil air transport's socio-technical system. National governments support local airports, airlines and aerospace industries to maintain and increase the relatively large number of people employed in these industries. Further aspects are the prestige and power connected to maintaining aeronautical and military leadership as well as the prestige connected to operating national flag carriers. The commercial civil air transport industry becomes increasingly important for global and local economies. Market forces contribute to reduce the cost of air travel in that aircraft producers compete to produce the most efficient aircraft at the lowest possible prices while airline competition in an increasingly global and liberalised market reduces real airfares. Economic growth policy leads to increasing income in many countries thereby allowing more and more people to travel by air. Today, most air travel is related to leisure, holidays and visiting friends and family. Passenger air travel is an important social status maker and current trends in social values and preferences leads people to travel further away to discover new exotic cultures and resorts. Globalisation of businesses and the economy in general are major drivers for passenger air travel. As businesses, political forums and personal relations become increasingly global the need to communicate over longer distances rises. Business travel is a major driver for passenger air travel growth in that business fares are substantially higher than normal economy fares and discount fares. Business travellers thereby subsidise leisure travellers, by allowing airlines to sell leisure tickets at artificially low fares. This structure is furthered by airline frequent flier programmes and other marketing tools. People are basically restricted from passenger air travel by financial and time constraints as well as technology and geography. The financial constraints are mainly connected to airfares and incomes. Technology is an important constraint in the sense that aircraft speed, range and capacity limits the distance people are able to fly within the time available. Geographical characteristics also play an important part in the sense that the earth is a limited geographical area, and unless space-flight becomes available for a broad part of the population, there seems to be upper limits as to how far each person might want to travel in a year. Some current impeders to passenger air travel growth are congested airports and airspace. In the future some new environmental policies might emerge, such as kerosene taxes or personal emission quotas. And on the longer term a saturation of the World's economic growth could come to reduce air travel growth. Like it is the case with most other types of (fossil) energy intensive activities the bulk of air traffic is currently performed in and between industrialised countries. In an environmentally sustainable World countries should aim at distributing resources evenly between the World's citizens. Therefore, on the longer term, there are tremendous challenges to be overcome. Achieving environmentally sustainable commercial civil air transport will first of all require that people living in currently industrialised countries stop travelling ever more by air each year. Most importantly therefore, the search for environmentally sustainable development in commercial civil air transport activities does not seem to only include technical fixes but will also acquire some sort of changes in lifestyle in industrialised countries. One suggestion that is considered in this report is that governments could stop planning mainly to achieve economic growth and instead look for alternative ways of achieving and measuring progress and welfare than by increasing the gross national product