I don't think I am helping the environment at all

[SignalCorps]

I used about 40,000 units (is it liters or kilograms?) of fuel getting a 6,400 unit pod of fuel up to my floating science lab/gas station/discotheque.

It seems really wasteful, but hey, I'm not the one paying for gas,

[arq]

Thank the takspayers. Besides, it's for science.

[Murph]

I used about 40,000 units (is it liters or kilograms?) of fuel getting a 6,400 unit pod of fuel up to my floating science lab/gas station/discotheque.

It seems really wasteful, but hey, I'm not the one paying for gas,

That sounds fairly normal, it takes many times the fuel delivered to deliver fuel to space, both in reality and KSP. If you're in career mode, you are paying for it, it's included in the cost of the tanks, empty the tank out and the cost drops dramatically, as fuel is the majority of the normal cost of a full tank. Unless you have any expensive modules, you'll find that the majority of your launch cost is often fuel.

[Xavven]

Nah, Kerbals are green (pun intended), so they use anaerobic digester tanks to produce methane fuel from food waste, and liquid oxygen from hydrolysis from renewable wind energy. Who knew getting to space was so environmentally friendly?

[KerikBalm]

That sounds fairly normal, it takes many times the fuel delivered to deliver fuel to space, both in reality and KSP. If you're in career mode, you are paying for it, it's included in the cost of the tanks, empty the tank out and the cost drops dramatically, as fuel is the majority of the normal cost of a full tank. Unless you have any expensive modules, you'll find that the majority of your launch cost is often fuel.

Well, in reality yes, but in KSP, rockets should be getting payload fractions of around 20%.... and airbreathers much more than that.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/116729-Stock-Payload-Fraction-Challenge-1-0-2-Edition

Top payload fraction is over 50%.

Top SSTO payload fraction is over 33%

Top non-airbreathing rocket: over 25%