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Wanna start the new year (or end the new one) with a big cut in your carbon footprint?


Book the bus, or take a train - a car if there are three or more of you - but try to avoid planes on your next trip out of town, says the Union of Concerned Scientists.


Even though those buses you see on the highway look to be polluters of the worst kind, they are far, far kinder to the environment than other means of mass transit, according to UCS's travel analysis, "Getting There Greener."


Buses did well in the carbon footprint assessment because the hold almost as many passenger as small regional airplanes but spew far less carbon dioxide because they burn less fuel.


The study found that buses also are better than cars, even hybrids, in most cases involving travel by one or two people. A couple taking the bus to grandma's farm for a holiday will be responsible for only half the carbon output they'd cause driving a hybrid car on the same trip, according to the UCS analysis (this presumes, of course, that the bus is pretty full).


If more than two people are going on the same trip, the scenario changes, though.


Buses remain the top choice, but the average compact sedan is a better choice for a group of three or more travelers than a train or airplane - whatever the trip's length,
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Tags: Emissions, Mass Transit, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Footrpint, CO2, UCS, Union Concerned Scientists

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Buses Tops for Green Travel Says Environmental Group; But Cars Can Do Well, Too was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.