--- description: The energy used per person can be lower on a plane than in a car title: Flying Is Sometimes Greener Than Driving image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Environment](/tag/environment/) ## Environment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Flying Is Sometimes Greener Than Driving by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 29, 2015 5:59 PM CUT by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 29, 2015 5:59 PM CUT Next time you feel guilty about booking a flight when you could have driven, cut yourself some slack: [in many cases](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/28/surprising-new-study-finds-that-flying-may-be-more-environmentally-friendly-than-driving/?tid=sm%5Ftw "undefined"), flying may be the more environmentally sustainable choice. New research by Michael Sivak of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute suggests that the energy expended per person is often higher when driving than when flying the same distance—more than two times higher on average, the Washington _Post_ reports. This calculation depends on the energy efficiency of the vehicles involved, as well as on the fact that passenger planes are often crowded, dividing the necessary fuel among many people. On the other hand, drivers are often alone. It’s important to note that most of the time, drivers are only traveling short distances, while flyers are traveling long ones—so the overall impact of drivers vs. flyers isn’t a clean comparison. \[[_Washington Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/04/28/surprising-new-study-finds-that-flying-may-be-more-environmentally-friendly-than-driving/?tid=sm%5Ftw "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3840410/flying-greener-driving/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3840410/flying-greener-driving/"},"headline":"Flying Is Sometimes Greener Than Driving","datePublished":"2015-04-29T17:59:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:47:29.696Z","description":"The energy used per person can be lower on a plane than in a car","url":"https://time.com/3840410/flying-greener-driving/","keywords":["Environment","Aviation","Automobiles"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3840410/flying-greener-driving/","name":"Flying Is Sometimes Greener Than Driving"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: A Timelapse of Climate Change","description":"Climate Change","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ywHiuC83/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-05-09T17:46:05.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ywHiuC83.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3840410/flying-greener-driving/","duration":"PT48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3840410/flying-greener-driving/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```