Crossbleed
I love it when this little gem of a debate sticks its head up because quite frankly it's rubbish. Aviation is the easiest of targets to pick on because it's so visible but the reality is it isn’t the polluter some would lead you to believe. To prove my point these are the official world wide air pollution figures for 2002.
Total Air pollution Emissions in 2002.
• Energy Industries = 53.8%
• Transport = 21.3%
• Manufacturing Industries & Construction = 11.7%
• Fugitive Fuel Emissions = 8.1%
• Other Sectors = 5.0%
Now let’s break down the transport sector to find who is the most polluting there.
Transport Emissions in 2002.
• Passenger Cars = 54.9%
• Other road Transport = 33.4%
• Aviation = 7.4%
• Railways = 2.3%
• Navigation = 2.0%
If we extrapolate this further for Aviation,
7.4% x 21.3% = 1.576%
In other words aviation accounted for no more than 1.6% of total air pollution in 2002. If we are to do anything about worldwide air pollution I think we should look at the energy industry first as it is by far the worst offender. Aviation is a piss in the ocean by comparison.