In my specific case, I was looking into travels between Beppu (Japan) and Osaka. There is a direct ferry line, but other routes exist of course (also trains).
I wonder how a ferry and a plane would compare
Well, there’s this:
https://www.statista.com/chart/32350/greenhouse-gas-emissions-by-mode-of-transport/
… but a ferry is not a cruise ship.
I would imagine they would be lower on this chart than the cruise ship, cruise ships are kind of notorious amongst ship types as being just obscenely resource intensive / wasteful…
… but basically outside of WA/BC… there just aren’t that many ferry systems in North America, whereas they are more common elsewhere…
Maybe there are more/better studies done in Japanese, Korean, etc, that focus on the kinds of tech and ships and fuels used in ferry systems around there?
The number you’d get out of the kind of calculation there, it could change a lot based on the overall design / route / intended speed of the ship, the kind of engine used (it could potentially have a hyrbid electrical drive system), the blend of fuel used, etc etc.
With a ship, buoyancy carries the weight for free (energy wise) unlike a plane so if all you’re focussed on is air pollution then ships are far better for the environment.
In theory I guess, but in practice we have diesel engine ships and all sorts of dynamics with pollution (e.g., using more dirty diesel that’s forbidden but not in international waters etc).
I’m fairly sure air travel is still more polluting. The energy needed to fight gravity is immense.
You mean bunker oil not diesel. First, it is what is left over from fracking so in itself isn’t polluting much extra in production. Then, as a ship is buoyant, it burns much less fuel per ton-km so it pollutes exponentially less than any other form of motorised transport. Planes are at the other end of the scale.
If you would be sailing, it would probably have the less impact on the environment. But a Diesel powered ferry ? I have no idea how it compares to air flight. The train is probably better than both ferry and plane in this case.
Rail is the most carbon efficient land transport, but anything on the water will beat it on emissions.
Assuming both use on board combustion engines, yes. But a train connected to a majority green energy power grid is probably more carbon efficient than most boats.
For strictly passenger vessels yes, but once large amounts of cargo get involved shipping takes the win every time.
A ferry or other regular short-run vessel can be electrified too. The tour boats at Niagara falls switched to pure-electric a few years back, and they’re plugged in to recharge during onboarding and off boarding.
Yes, that’s as far as I was thinking as well.
Depends how long you can hold your breath.
