Novacon Carbon Footprint

[major_clanger]

Getting two of us from Edinburgh to Walsall for Novacon:

By air: circa £120 (air fares and taxis), 3 hrs.

By car: circa £120 (petrol and running costs), 6 hrs.

By rail: circa £200, 6 hrs.

And that is booking ten weeks in advance.

According to the Guardian's carbon-offset website, flying would generate 240 kg of carbon dioxide, which would cost £1.77 to offset. Driving would generate 210 kg, costing £1.58 to offset. No data for trains.

EDIT: Or we could give the GoH a lift and split the costs!

Comments

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I noticed this when Z and I wanted to go up to Lancaster. I wanted to go on the train. I love trains, apart from the environmental thing I actively prefer trains to any other form of transport. I don't know what they think they're gaining by pricing themselves out of the market.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I'd give the GoH a lift. A full car isn't going to be a lot worse than a train, I'd have thought.

I've usually done pretty well on picking up cheap rail tickets, but I haven't looked into Novacon yet. I really ought to get around to it...

I rarely drive anywhere now, though that's as much a general dislike of driving as it is carbon saving.

According to http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ I'm using 1.82 planets. I'm well ahead of the UK average of 3 planets, but I still have some way to go.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

A full car is occasionally more CO2 efficient than the rail alternative, but it depends on the precise train you take, its power source and, crucially, how full it is. Mind you, since it's going anyway I guess you should assume it's 100% full for this decision-making purpose, rather than for public policy decision making, where you have to factor in average usage.

Is that 3 hours for the flight a realistic door-to-door figure including full check-ins?

[frostfox.livejournal.com]

I usually manage between £12 and £40 each way to London.
thetrainline.com is my favoured site.

FF who might not need the car this year for Novacon as I don't think I'm taking stock.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

Ooh, and I've just thought, have you tried splitting the journey into random sections? Frequently works wonders for long journeys, the problem is that you don't know which split will do the job and have to try all of them - there's probably some kind of online group with tips though.

[jamesb.livejournal.com]

stolen from an article I read last month:

'The best-performing electric trains are operated by GNER (west coast J) between London and Edinburgh and emit only 40g of CO2 per passenger-kilometre (g/pkm) compared with 112g/pkm for Voyagers. (diesel usually X-country J)'

I expect you will travel on the east coast mainline with GNER is best cause the 225 engine uses AC power and the coaches are lighter, Mark 4, than current safety/build demands.

The times did have a train comparison guide, to compare all trains, like a class 158 'sprinter' can be really pretty crap.

Now if you are on the ECML Virgin do have a C02 calculation table here
http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/gogreener/defaulthtml.aspx

I think the pendolino is not as good as the 225, but I am then nit sure on the figures.

It says Edinburgh to Birmingham is either 35 0r 41 KGC02 per journey, dependednt on route.

Now pendos use dynamic braking which crates regenerative electricity and they are about 17% more efficient or power saving than other electric trains let alone compared to a diesel, so that may account for the difference.

Finally. I am really surprised at the cost of that ticket, I know I should not be, BUT you will see on the virgin list HOW CHEAP they do sell tickets.
Timing and Date is all important, BUT its a good 8 weeks away.

Look at routings, and try various rail companies as well as the nationalrail website.

I know that most tickets become available 3 months before hand, and this is the time to hit, if you are looking for value.

I adore trains, and wish they were CHEAPER. J

[feorag.livejournal.com]

EDIT: Or we could give the GoH a lift and split the costs!

GoH is going down in the Swedish Tank with nojay and myself. There is, alas, only one spare seat, but we are trying to persuade another local fannish type that it's about time he did a Novacon again.

And then there's the additional terror of being driven by me on bits that aren't motorway.

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

Watch those cheap tickets... when travelling to London we check weekly from about 3 months before. Sometimes they only release the cheap singles 6 weeks beforehand. It's a waiting game.