Would travel by airship have a lower carbon footprint than plane travel?

Question

I know it would be slower, but would the emissions be lower? I know there was talk a few years ago about a company that was using them for freight shipments.

Answer 1

Sorry, the airplane is more efficient.

An airship is an absolutely HUGE vehicle, and it therefore has a huge amount of drag, even though it has an efficient shape. Airplanes have efficient shapes too, but they're much smaller and so they have much less drag.

For example, a USLTA model 138S blimp uses a 300 hp engine and carries up to six people at 35 mph.

A Piper Cherokee Six uses the exact same engine and also carries six people -- but at 154 mph. So the blimp would fly for more than four times the duration to cover the same distance with the same payload, using more than four times the fuel.

Answer 2

Yes travel by airship would possibly have a lower the carbon foot print than plane travel. Provided of course, that it was an airship not filled with hydrogen that would ultimately explode and incinerate every living thing around it in a flaming holocost of death and destruction.

Answer 3

Yes. the weight of an airship is balanced is balanced by by the lift of the gas used. so any engines would not have to be too big or do so much work. Therefore engine emmissions would be a lot less.