3.2. Better transport http://www.ck12.org
per passenger than a 747.
Boeing has announced similar breakthroughs: their new 747–8 Inter-continental, trumpeted for its planet-saving
properties, is (according to Boeing’s advertisements) only 15% more fuel-efficient than a 747–400.
Figure 20.29:Airbus A380.
This slender rate of progress (contrasted with cars, where changes in technology deliver two-fold or even ten-fold
improvements in efficiency) is explained in Technical Chapter Planes II. Planes are up against a fundamental limit
imposed by the laws of physics. Any plane, whatever its size,has toexpend an energy of about 0.4 kWh per ton-km
on keeping up and keeping moving. Planes have already been fantastically optimized, and there is no prospect of
significant improvements in plane efficiency.
Figure 20.30:TSS Rijndam.