public transport contribution to CO2 reduction is exagerated, because the US DoE Transport Data Book gives per passenger energy by rail as 2,784 BTU's vs 3,445 BTU's by car
So I looked at the study what kind of capacity assumptions they were making for rail travel.
The study puts the following warning in a thick black box above every energy-use table:
Great care should be taken when comparing modal energy intensity data among modes. Because of the inherent differences among the transportation modes in the nature of services, routes available, and many additional factors, it is not possible to obtain truly comparable national energy intensities among modes. These values are averages, and there is a great deal of variability even within a mode.
So basically these are meaningless figures for evaluating your specific transit project. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
From a french government web site we have:
http://www.effet-de-serre.gouv.fr/quizz
30) A votre avis, parmi les affirmations suivantes, quelle est la vraie ? A/ Les autobus émettent 2 fois moins de CO2 que la voiture B/ Le métro parisien consomme 7 fois moins d'énergie que la voiture C/ Le tramway consomme 10 fois moins que la voiture Réponses A, B et C ! Pour nos déplacements en ville, la solution des transports en commun est aujourd'hui le meilleur moyen de réduire nos émissions de gaz à effet de serre.
A/ Les autobus émettent 2 fois moins de CO2 que la voiture
B/ Le métro parisien consomme 7 fois moins d'énergie que la voiture
C/ Le tramway consomme 10 fois moins que la voiture
Réponses A, B et C ! Pour nos déplacements en ville, la solution des transports en commun est aujourd'hui le meilleur moyen de réduire nos émissions de gaz à effet de serre.
They say that the sentence "Paris subway consumes seven times less energy than car" is true. I assume they mean by passenger-km (I've asked them via the contact form).
But here we have a particular use for the fight: urban commute by car vs light train.
And on urban commute cars get their worst mpg (below average mpg) and I'd say per passenger too since likely to have less passenger (1) when work commuting than doing longer range trip with the family (2-N).
