[kzrdude]

Sure. At the bottom of it, it's subsidized by the relative inexpense of oil, and how much we can do with that energy.

Which reminds me: Is there a name for and can I read more about the problem of economy, market and pricing of resources for sustainability?

[roymurdock]

This book Prosperity Without Growth [1] is a decent start from the perspective of an economist/environmentalist. It's somewhat hampered by the author's failure to rigorously define terms (a serious no-no for any economic/philosophical argument) but contains some good ideas.

Another great read from a more relate able angle is The Omnivore's Dilemma which doesn't address the issue very directly, but shows in painstaking detail how the US food chain has moved from a renewable solar base to one derived entirely from corn, which in turn relies on cheap petrochemical sources to grow at the speed, intensity, and volume that we grow it in the US.

Check out the reviews for both books as well - many of them cite other important works in the genre.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Prosperity-without-Growth-Economics-F...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dilemma-Natural-History-Mea...

[robotresearcher]

> Sure.

No. The seats are not being made empty. You're just moving the empty seat next to you. Zero energy impact, save for moving the information around.

[dTal]

Hmm, I dunno... it relieves some of the financial pressure of having empty seats, by extracting some value from them. Therefore there will be less incentive for the airline to maximize seat utilization (through overbooking, for example, which saves money but costs reputation for the airline every time someone gets booted). Therefore we can expect seat utilization to go down.

[robotresearcher]

That's true. That's a pretty complex effect, so you'd need some decent data to estimate its magnitude. But you're right it should be above zero, unless there's some other effect to suppress it.