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The Real Costs Wiki

This is the Wiki for the Real Costs project. This will store information about our data sources, references, mathematical/scientific equations, etc.

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1 Compiled List of Working/Not-Working Sites
2 Adding New Sites
3 Adding a site which uses <iframe>. (ewwwww)
4 Air Travel Data 2-21-07
5 How we are calculating the distance travelled and the emissions data
6 Per Person Emissions Data
7 About Carbon Offsetting
8 Tree Data
9 Average annual emissions per car/truck (USA)
10 Bus Data
11 Train Data
12 Shipping Data
13 Getting started
14 luxury gift link
15 global replica watches link

[edit] Compiled List of Working/Not-Working Sites

Works

aa.com
jetblue.com
delta.com
usairways.com
airtran.com / tickets.airtran.com
singaporeair.com
midwestairlines.com // buggy march 12, mm
airasia.com

Recent Quirky - Added 1/18/08

orbitz.com
- no data pass
- missing data on "expand"

ata.com
- no data pass

expedia.com
- gets cut off by advert

united.com
- gets cut off

cheapoair.com (z-index?)
- # of tree yrs out of place

Recent Not Work but can fix maybe??? Added 1/18/08

nwa.com / res.nwa.com
- container appears without data
- data comes thru next to flight info

aircanada.com
- nothing works

continental.com
- nothing works

priceline.com
- nothing works

cheaptickets.com (skip?)
- container appears without data
- data comes thru next to flight info

Old Quirky (TURNED OFF)

priceline.com
- no data pass, no lbs CO2 pass.
- no lbs passing through.
- commented out of code.

lufthansa.com
- no data pass
- no lbs passing through.
- commented out of code.
- Styles break

cathaypacific.com
- no data pass
- commented out of code

kenya-airways.com
- sticks to the left side- will not fit into normal div flow

airberlin.com
- no data pass

airfrance.us
- sets page off alignment

skyeurope.com
- chart shows on wrong page
- no data pass

iberia.com
- no data pass
- not taking any hooks

emirates.com
- significant lack of hooks

airchina.com.cn
- no hooks

koreanair.com
- no data pass

thaiairways.com
- no hooks

flyasiana.com
- moves logo

philippineairlines.com
- moves text in header

jetairways.com
- no hooks

vietnamairlines.com
- no hook

virginblue.com.au
- breaks site

airniugini.com.pg
- no data pass

Old Totally Broken (TURNED OFF)

travelocity.com
- cannot get it to take to any of the hooks.

alaskaairlines.com / alaskaair.com
- cannot get it to take to any of the hooks.

klm.com
- cannot get it to take to any of the hooks.

emirates.com
- data is passing
- significant lack of hooks.

kayak.com
- (all hooks result in content displayed at page top-left)
- have not tested recently, will attempt today.

flysaa.com (South African Airlines)

jal.com/en/
- https?

cs-air.com
- Chinese characters only

swiss.com
- Nothing works

bookaustrian.com
- Nothing works

bookfinnair.com
- Nothing works

china-airlines.com
- secured site

elal.com
- no 3 letter airport code

ce-air.com
- not working

malaysiaairlines.com
- not working

saudiairlines.com
- not working

thy.com
- not working

indian-airlines.nic.in
- not working at all

evaair.com
- not working

qantas.com.au
- nothing works

airnewzealand.com
- nothing works

airtahitinui.com
- nothing works

northfolkair.com
- nothing works

airpacific.com
- site does not refresh

icelandair.com
- nothing works

adria-airways.com
- Not English

jat.com
- Not English

skyways.se
- Not English

Added 1/18/08

ryanair.com
- nothing works

egyptair.com
- site not working

ana.co.jp
- not English

hawaiianair.com
- nothing working

westjet.com
- nothing working

southwest.com
- nothing working

garuda-indonesia.com
- cannot book flight

chinaairlines.com
- pulls flight info from other sites

macair.com.au
- nothing works

gulfair.com
- nothing works

Not Attempted Yet (add URLs here if you want them to work!)

http://www.cfares.com

International sites are funky. Tons of scary <iframe>'s. grrrr.....

[edit] Adding New Sites

In order to add new sites to the list of supported sites, follow this procedure:

Find the CSS id of the element (usually a div) before which the carbon header will be inserted.

Add that id into the headerId array in the following format:

 	headerId.ata="pricingSpan";

It is important to note that many of these major airplane sites have subdomains for their ticketing server, e.g. nwa.com runs all of the ticketing off of res.nwa.com. we have to account for this in the above array.

Also note: Array key (i.e.: "ata") is the url minus the "www." and the ".com". If there is a subdomain it needs to be stripped of the period separating the subdomain and the domain (i.e.: "www.res.nwa.com" becomes "resnwa")

[edit] Adding a site which uses <iframe>. (ewwwww)

The same procedure is followed but there is the extra step of getting "into" the page that the iframe calls.

we will use lufthansa.com as an example.

first view the source code of page that contains the flight info. (after the initial search)
we are looking to see if the page uses iframes. If it does than go back to the page itself. right-click or control-click and click this frame->view source.
note the url of the frame. place this into the array following the instructions found above.
the rest is as above.

[edit] Air Travel Data 2-21-07

http://www.airnav.com/airport/
- site with all(?) domestic airports. (grabbed)

http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-airports-by-iata-code-a
- list of airports bt IATA code (internatonal)

http://www.bts.gov/programs/airline_information/airport_to_airport_statute_miles/
- distance, in miles, between airports
- [1] - the actual spreadsheet

http://ragnarok.isi.edu/services/details.html
- database driven conversion tools

http://www.partow.net/miscellaneous/airportdatabase/
- Airport Database (jackpot!) (apparently missing a few, like the new airport in greece)
- this is the actual file: http://www.partow.net/downloads/GlobalAirportDatabase.zip

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html
- Longitude/Latitude conversion tool

[edit] How we are calculating the distance travelled and the emissions data

Air Travel Emissions

http://www.b-e-f.org/GreenTags/faq_pages/calculator.shtm#air

1.36 lbs of CO2e per mile per passenger.

full explanation from from: http://www.b-e-f.org/GreenTags/faq_pages/calculator.shtm#what_foot8

The average passenger miles per gallon for a domestic or international trip originating in the U.S. equals 33.4, according to Transportation, Energy, and the Environment, Section A - U.S. Energy Consumption and Transportation Sector Energy Consumption, Table 4-21.

Burning a gallon of jet fuel produces 21.095 lbs of CO2 according to the U.S. Department of Energy and the Energy Information Administration, Instructions for Form EIA 1605B, Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Appendix B.

The result is that each passenger mile creates 0.63 lbs. of CO2 (21.095 lbs. per gallon divided by 33.4 passenger miles per gallon).

Air travel also creates significant non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. These are expressed as CO2 equivalents, or CO2e. The Climate Neutral Network (CN), has done significant research on this topic, and estimates that the non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions are at least as significant as the CO2 impacts. After considerable discussion, BEF and CN have agreed that the appropriate approach is to double the 0.63 lbs. of CO2, with a result of 1.26 lbs. of total CO2e per passenger mile (CO2 + non-CO2 greenhouse gasses).

An additional 8 percent is added to cover the emissions associated with the upstream refining of jet fuel according to the Climate Neutral Network. The result is that 1.36 lbs. of CO2e are created for each passenger mile traveled (1.26 + 8% = 1.36).

flying distance between U.S. and Canadian Airports

link: http://www.convertit.com/Go/ConvertIt/Calculators/Geography/Flying_Distance_Calc.ASP

javascript calculator.

Distance Calculator (world wide)

link: http://www.indo.com/distance/

"Courtesy of Indo.com, this service uses data from the US Census and a supplementary list of cities around the world to find the latitude and longitude of two places, and then calculates the distance between them (as the crow flies). It also provides a map showing the two places, using the Xerox PARC Map Server."

another javascript calculator that can calculate distance between any two points on the globe.

other sources for code (not investigated thoroughly)

http://www.google.com/codesearch?hl=en&q=show:wPlTINEpIU4:fNnZFr4EA9g:Ulr3xNUfcd4&sa=N&ct=rd&cs_p=http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/Europe/200306/geo/geo_20050304.tar.gz&cs_f=geo_20050304/airports/airports.js

http://www.google.com/codesearch?hl=en&q=+javascript+distance+longitud+latitude+show:3oQbaHpaENk:Z3J0bCvPF0Q:Qc_rEuAyHBs&sa=N&cd=11&ct=rc&cs_p=http://www.hughbarnard.org/tess/vectormartg.tar.gz&cs_f=public_html/google/javascript/latlonconvert.js#a0

[edit] Per Person Emissions Data

U.S. Per Person emissions

24.3 tons CO2/person/year

Japan Per Person emissions

10.7 tons CO2/person/year

E.U. Per Person emissions

10.6 tons CO2/person/year

China Per Person emissions

3.9 tons CO2/person/year

India Per Person emissions

1.9 tons CO2/person/year

World average Per Person emissions

5.6 tons CO2/person/year

source:

http://cait.wri.org/cait.php

[edit] About Carbon Offsetting

Most Carbon Offset (Carbon Sequestration) programs involve large scale tree planting and reforestation projects. Planting trees is certainly beneficial, but not because it is such a clear cut way to store carbon. Once a tree dies the carbon lost through decomposition is more than it stores, so it's not a long term solution. Rather, planting trees provides short term carbon storage. But is also critical to so many biodiversity and conservation issues.

Additionally, environmentally minded economists (and business minded environmentalist) argue that Carbon Offsetting is also useful as a costing method. Which is to say, if you have to pay more for it, economics will catalyze behavioral change. Others argue that using carbon as a costing method at the corporate level makes it easier to transition to paying for larger scale capital improvements.

That said, many scientists and environmental activists are strongly opposed to Carbon Offsets as it does not create real behavioral change. Rather, it allows us to assuage our guilty feelings and continue our destructive consumer behavior. Or, as Kevin Smith has posited, "Carbon offsets are the modern day indulgences, sold to an increasingly carbon conscious public to absolve their climate sins." Read more at http://www.tni.org/detail_pub.phtml?&know_id=56&menu=11c

Sources:

[edit] Tree Data

An average number is 1 ton CO2/tree/40yrs. In the tropics these can go much higher, but if you planted something on poor soil in up-state New York, which is these numbers come from, then you peak at about ~1000kg or 1 ton/tree over 60 years. Additionally, one survives out of every three trees planted. This data is from Black Rock Forest in NY from an expert at Columbia on carbon sequestration. This is fairly low since the tropics are much more efficient at carbon storage with higher rates and totals.

1 Ton = 1000 kgs = 2200 lbs 2200 lbs / 40 years = 55 lbs CO2/year

Sources:

Kevin Griffin, personal communication, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
http://therealcosts.com/files/treebiomass_blackrockforest.doc
http://treesftf.org/about/cooling.htm
http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/Treeandhumanity/index.asp
http://www.earthfuture.com/climate/carbonactivism.asp
http://www.vtearthinstitute.org/carbonwksht.html

[edit] Average annual emissions per car/truck (USA)

Source: www.epa.gov

based on 12500 miles per year and 21.5mpg (cars) and 14000 miles per year and 17.2mpg (trucks)

consuming 581 gallons Gasoline produces 12140 lbs CO2e:

77lbs Hydrocarbons
575lbs Carbon Monoxide
38.2lbs Nitrogen
11450 lbs Carbon Dioxide

12140 lbs / 12500 miles = .971 lbs CO2e/mi

Sources:

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/f00013.htm
http://www.b-e-f.org/GreenTags/faq_pages/calculator.shtm#auto
Good explanation of why 1gallon of Gasoline produces 19.3 lbs of CO2e
- visually represented: http://www.terrapass.com/terrablog/posts/2006/03/how-to-turn-6-pounds-of-gasoline-into-20-pounds-of-carbon-d.html
- the scientific source of the information: http://www.ghgprotocol.org/templates/GHG5/layout.asp?type=p&MenuId=OTAy&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=Project%20Protocol
Statistics from the US Dept. of Transportation; Sections I, II, VI, and VII
- http://fhwainter.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs05/index.htm

[edit] Bus Data

Source: www.bus-und-bahn-im-griff.de

http://www.bus-und-bahn-im-griff.de/interessantes/energieverbrauch_bus_bahn.html 2.7 liters of Diesel / 100 km 1 liter of Diesel = 10.52 kWh => 0.284 kWh / km 0.284 kWh / km with average conversion factor of 0.2kg CO2/kWh = 0.071 kg CO2/km 0.071 kg CO2/km * 0.621371192 miles/km * 2.204 lbs/kg = .0548 CO2/mile/person

Rounded for significant digits: 0.05lbs CO2/mile/person

Sources:

http://www.buses.org/programs_and_services/toolkits/marketing___communications/120.cfm

[edit] Train Data

Source: www.transwatch.co.uk

For every 100 passenger-km at 30% load a train traveling 200km per hour emits 6020gms of CO2: 6020 grams are being emitted per 100 passenger for every km

6020g / 1000g/kg / 100 passengers = 0.0602 kg/passenger/km

0.0602 kg/passenger/km * 0.621371192 miles/km * 2.204 lbs/kg = 0.0824 lbs CO2/passenger/mile

Source: www.bus-und-bahn-im-griff.de

2.2 liters Petrol used / 100 km on average in Germany

1 liter of Petrol = 8.9 kWh => 0.2 kWh / km

they use average conversion factor to CO2 of average 0.2kg CO2/kWh = 0.04kgCO2/km

0.04kgCO2/km* 0.621371192 miles/km * 2.204 lbs/kg = .0972 lbs CO2/mile/person

Source: www.airportwatch.org.uk

Rail - normal suburban
- around 50-150 miles per gallon per passenger (18 - 52 kpl)
- (about 130 - 145 grams CO2 per kilometre)
Rail - high speed, few stops
- around 40-80 miles per gallon per passenger (14 - 28 kpl)
- (about 165 - 180 grams CO2 per kilometre)

since there are two values here we will take the average.

( 130g/passenger/km + 60g/passenger/km ) / 2 / 1000g/kg = .095kg CO2/passenger/km

.095kg/passenger/km * 0.621371192 miles/km * 2.204 lbs/kg = 0.130 lbs/passenger/mile

Source: www.resurgence.org

Resurgence uses a factor of .1kg CO2 /km / person for both train and buses

.095kg/passenger/km * 0.621371192 miles/km * 2.204 lbs/kg = 0.1364 lbs lbs/passenger/mile

Source: www.nef.org.uk

nef.org.uk (often used by carbon calculators for numbers) uses a factor of .1kg CO2 /km / person

.095kg/passenger/km * 0.621371192 miles/km * 2.204 lbs/kg = 0.1364 lbs lbs/passenger/mile

The average of these four factors is

(0.0972 + 0.0824 + 0.130 + 0.1364 + 0.1364)/5 = .11648 ~= .12 lbs lbs/passenger/mile

Sources: