eli5: why is taking a plane or helicopter worse for the environment than a train or a boat?

Question

eli5: why is taking a plane or helicopter worse for the environment than a train or a boat?

In: 3

Answer 1

Trains and ships are very fuel efficient relative to the weight of the cargo it carries. Things that fly have to use a lot of energy simply to raise the cargo into the air and then land at the destination. It is basically as simple as that – ships and trains don’t spend energy (ie fuel) to lift the cargo up into the air and therefore can carry huge loads (tens of thousands of tons) per trip.