Wales has led the way when it comes to responsible travel in recent years. Visitors have the opportunity to support the communities they visit in long-lasting ways.
One fifth of Wales is covered by National Parks. Those numbers don’t include the area’s outstanding natural beauty, hundreds of miles of heritage coast, and countless nature reserves. With dramatic mountain peaks, rolling hills, dense forests, green river valleys, and 1,500 kilometres of sea-washed beaches.
The importance of travelling consciously and reducing our collective climate impact has never been greater. Reducing our carbon footprint is one of the most significant ways we can do so today. So let’s take a look at the different options for travelling to Llandudno and how they affect our carbon footprint.
Train
Travelling by train is one of the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient modes of transportation available today. To give you an example, we looked at the carbon emissions for the journey from Manchester to Llandudno by train. The carbon emissions were calculated using the LNER website’s Carbon Calculator.
The results show that the CO2 emissions for this journey is 4.77 KG CO2 e.
The calculation is based on the use of National Rail and a CO2 emission rate of 0.0689119388 kg/pass mile.
Car
Travelling by car is probably one of the most popular uses of transport. So we then looked at the CO2 emissions using a car to get from Manchester to Llandudno.
The results show that the CO2 emissions for this journey is 15.99 KG CO2 e.
The calculation is based on the following formula: 0.3591 kgCO2e/mile / 1.5 (average loading for a car DfT statistics dataset vehicle mileage and occupancy) = 0.23943333333 kgCO2e/passenger mile.
Plane
We then looked at the CO2 e.emissions for the same journey but this time by plane.
The results show that the CO2 emissions for this journey is 29.32 KG CO2 e.
This calculation is based on a Domestic flight with radiative forcing 0.4389957652 kgCO2e/ pass mile.
Coach
Currently, coaches are among the cleanest, greenest vehicles on the road, with average CO2 emissions per passenger per journey around five times lower than air travel and six times lower than driving a car. A coach-load of people can keep 50 cars off the road, resulting in significant carbon dioxide emissions savings.
Day trips to Llandudno are widely available via coach companies and are very popular. We therefore decided to examine the carbon footprint of using a coach as a form of transportation. When looking at CO2 emissions, the average coach journey creates 0.04 tonnes per 1000 miles. Coaches have proven to be one of the more eco-friendly ways of travelling.
The most important thing to take away from this is that you can take positive steps towards environmental balance throughout your travels by measuring and tracking your carbon emissions.
