She%26#039;s convinced taking a large series of trains from Hong Kong along the transSiberian route all the way to England will produce less energy output than a single flight.
I think it%26#039;s counter-productive considering there%26#039;s no straight route.
I%26#039;m having difficulty finding supporting information... but so it she.
I don%26#039;t mind being wrong. I just want the facts to support the answer either way.
Another idea is to ask yourself how often you hear about a train stopping for re-fueling. Now how about planes?
OK, Now let%26#039;s think about starting and stopping. A plane has to get up to a high rate of speed very quickly in order to take off (unless the airport is just huge beyond reality). A train is generally slow to take off so the train wins fuel efficiency there.
When landing planes generally reverse thrust to slow down, this takes more power. Internal combustion trains use air brakes when stopping. they are far more efficient, and they tend to use them very little, letting the train slowly lose momentum. Electric battery powered trains generate electricity while stopping. This re-charges the batteries. Electric trains using either over-head wires, or the third-rail system use electric brakes, but they are more efficient than using reverse thrust on a jet engine.
Jet engines are normally not ran under peak load except when taking off. Trains generally are. Running an engine at peak load increases the fuel efficiency.
The train has to continue traveling whether there are passengers or not because they carry cargo also. They make frequent stops to pick up passengers and cargo, and drop off the same. Take away some points for that. If there are few or no passengers on a jet, it%26#039;s flight will probably be canceled, and the few passengers and such will be put on another plane later.
Give them points back now because often in bad weather a plane will end up sitting near the runway for a long period of time waiting clearance to take off. Trains are not affected by rain, sleet, or wind. Snow and ice they will plow through effecting the efficiency, but remember them planes are sitting their running and waiting.
Now is where we hit some points that you might never have thought of. It takes huge amounts of energy to build a plane...as does it take similar energy to build a train. A plane though will be retired from use before it is wore out, or becomes un-reliable. This is not the case with trains because a train breaking down is nowhere near as much of a safety hazard as a plane breaking down is. This is where a plane loses the battle for efficiency really quick.
So, you want your trip to have less of an impact on the environment? Well if you take a train, there%26#039;s a chance that the flight might get canceled. The train will travel on though wether you are on it or not.