I’ve just been enjoying an article on bbc.co.uk about a long-distance bus service from UK to Australia, run by a company called Ozbus. You can find the article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6996233.stm.  It sounds a fascinating trip, and makes me wish I was already retired and could try it, but rather spoils the story at the end with a last-minute attempt to pay lipservice to greenery.  There is, apparently, only one brief flight involved.  That may be good, but the bus is going to create a whole lot of CO2 in its 15,000 mile journey. 

So why is the bus element of the CO2 generated totally ignored, while the effect of a brief flight picked upon?  There are other factors affecting the volume of CO2 generated by the trip.  I suppose the bus is in good mechanical order, but that sounds to me like the comsumption of at least 2,500 gallons of diesel.  I don’t know what the plane trip will take – it depends on the aircraft type, its engines, how high and fast it flies, and so on.

Can anyone tell me what the per-capita fuel cost is on a non-stop flight from Heathrow to Australia?