Date: February 15, 2022
Author(s): Jason Karpman
Abstract
Per passenger trip, aviation is the most greenhouse gas-intensive mode of transport for intercity travel in California, but there is no clear pathway for decarbonizing this sector. While electrification proves to be the dominant pathway toward decarbonizing ground travel, this pathway is not technically feasible for commercial air travel, at least with currently available technologies. While planners and policymakers wait for breakthroughs in fueling technologies, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from aviation will require shifting trips from the air to less GHG-intensive modes of transportation. The California High-Speed Rail project can serve this function, but funding for the full route of the Phase 1 segment — spanning from Southern California to the San Francisco Bay Area — remains unallocated.
About the Project
Aviation is a difficult sector to decarbonize. The high energy and power requirements of flight make electrification challenging and low-carbon liquid fuels face their own technical and practical hurdles. While […]