Abstract
Traveling and possible impact on climate and environment are currently under intense debate, and air travel in particular is often in question due to the use of fossil fuels. Electric propulsion has therefore become very popular but the energy sources for electricity generation should as well be taken into consideration. On the other hand, the social aspect of traveling is usually forgotten and should be also included for a complete sustainability analysis. In this study, the business trip from Stockholm to Bordeaux experienced by airplane and train is analyzed. Though the journey by airplane generated six and a half times more CO2 emissions than the journey by train on a per-passenger basis, this latter resulted in a 35-h journey compared to seven, and a cost up to eight and a half times more expensive than the airplane. The trip is defined as an optimization problem with focus on environmental, economic, and social impact to define acceptable trade-offs. The critical criteria for transportation mode choice were identified as the environment, time and comfort, and a value model for business travel mode optimization is proposed, integrating as well a personal value.
Highlights
Transportation modes have strongly evolved and expanded over the last decades resulting in an increase of personal and professional traveling
Electric propulsion [5] is for example very popular due to its apparent cleanliness, but how electrical power is generated is not so much debated and this is crucial for a fair comparison of the different modes of transportation
The impact of business travel modes has been analyzed and compared for long travel distances from about 2000 km based on a real trip experienced by airplane and train, in terms of environmental, economic, and social sustainability
Summary
Transportation modes have strongly evolved and expanded over the last decades resulting in an increase of personal and professional traveling. This phenomenon has led to an intense debate about the environmental impact caused by traveling, mainly due to the use of fossil fuels and the associated emissions. Air travel is perhaps most in question and is analyzed in detail [1,2,3,4] It is at the same time one of the most challenging modes of transport towards sustainability and in particular for long-distance travel. Electric propulsion [5] is for example very popular due to its apparent cleanliness, but how electrical power is generated is not so much debated and this is crucial for a fair comparison of the different modes of transportation
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