What's the Carbon Footprint of Bicycling? 542
Hugh Pickens writes "Brian Palmer writes that although none of the major manufacturers has released data on their energy consumption and how much greenhouse gas making a bicycle requires, Shreya Dave, a graduate student at MIT, recently estimated that manufacturing an average bicycle results in the emission of approximately 530 pounds of greenhouse gases. Therefore, given a 'typical U.S. diet,' you would have to ride your bike instead of driving for around 400 miles to cover the bike's initial carbon footprint. However, calculating the total environmental impact of a mode of transit involves more than just the easy-to-measure metrics like mileage per gallon. Using a life-cycle assessment, Dave concluded that an ordinary sedan's carbon footprint is more than 10 times greater than a conventional bicycle's (PDF) on a mile-for-mile basis, assuming each survives 15 years and you ride the bike 2,000 miles per year. What about other ways to get to work? According to Dave's life-cycle analysis, the only vehicle that comes close to a bicycle is the peak-hour bus — and it's not really that close. A fully loaded bus is responsible for 2.6 times the carbon emissions total of a bicycle per passenger mile while off-peak buses account for more than 20 times as many greenhouse gases as a bicycle. What about the carbon footprint of walking? 'Walking is not zero emission because we need food energy to move ourselves from place to place,' says environmentalist Chris Goodall. 'Food production creates carbon emissions.'"
This Article is Just Silly (Score:4, Informative)
The article over simplifies the concepts of sustainable transportation and calorie consumption in the same ways thinly veiled "anti-green" articles attack more sustainable forms of energy production. In the energy debate, there are arguments against solar because of the lack of sun in Seattle, arguments against nuclear energy because of the waste that would be created if the entire world was put on nuclear power, and arguments against wind farms in natural wildlife reserves. They use worst-case scenarios to judge methods of alternative energy creation instead of how they would actually be implemented.
The same goes for sustainable transportation and this article. FTFA: "If you walk 1.5 miles, Mr. Goodall calculates, and replace those calories by drinking about a cup of milk, the greenhouse emissions connected with that milk (like methane from the dairy farm and carbon dioxide from the delivery truck) are just about equal to the emissions from a typical car making the same trip." And that assumes I'm going to drink a milk. From a cow. After a warm walk. Who the hell drinks milk after getting sweaty? People drink water or have some fruit! Instead of postulating what the worst can be, why not survey people to find out what *actually* happens? Or worse-- why bother considering food at all?
Even in the "worst-case" scenario where everyone in the USA stopped driving private vehicles and just rode bikes and public transit as necessary, would we all focus on beef to make up for our additional caloric needs? And would it make such a massive hit to the environment when compared to to complete loss of people buying and driving their own cars? -- Not that I'm advocating such pie-in-the-sky thinking, but if you want to bring in cow-pollution, let's really compare it to the pollution from manufacturing, transporting, using, and disposing of cars. I can be disingenuous, too!
Lastly, focusing only on the mythical carbon footprint or GHG emissions of any mode of travel is BS science. It's only for "wow" and "fear" effect. You have weigh to the relative benefits of a mode for the passenger, operator, and third parties (cost, health, pollution, etc.), and the habits that may come along with regularly using a mode of transportation (lethargy and car driving for example). There are entire schools of study on sustainable transportation and summarizing it in a childish (trollish?) article is silly.
It's not about finding single a form of transportation that is a "winner"-- it's about finding a mode that is best for you, where you are now, where you need to be, and when you need to be there. Sometimes driving your truck alone on the road is sensible-- like when you're heading over to buddy to help him move. Other times, it's stupid-- like when you drive 3 blocks down the street to pick up some tic-tacs.
Regular Trips:
Walking is suggested for round trips under two miles -- It helps keep the person healthy and burns no fossil fuels in the process. When you get home, don't raise 40 cows for slaughter.
Bicycling is suggested for trips for round trips under 15 miles (fitness and competency varying) -- It helps to keep the person healthy and burns no fossil fuels in the process. See above comment about raising cows.
Bus Transit is suggested for round trips under 15 miles or longer trips depending on availability-- It burns fossil fuels, but it's like a giant carpool.
Train Transit is is suggested for round trips over 30 miles or longer trips depending on availability-- It burns fossil fuels (directly and/or indirectly), but it's like a giant carpool.
Carpooling and Vanpooling is suggested for 20+ mile commutes -- It reduces the amount of pollution per user in areas where transit is not an option
Irregular Trips
Carpool (see above)
Passenger Jet - In a packed jet and for trips greater than 700 miles, you're actually doing pretty good when it comes to your share of greenhouse gases. The longer the trip, the better since the largest concentration of fuel burning comes at take-off.
You al
Re:This manufacturer may have changed the numbers. (Score:4, Informative)
Not at all. I'm guessing it's mostly labor cost and profits.
Probably the same things the customer would have done with the money if he hadn't bought the bike, so it doesn't matter.
Re:seriously..? (Score:2, Informative)
Indeed. Sand is a very rare mineral, and prohibitively expensive in energy to extract.
Yes, solar panels are made from the same materials as computer chips: silicium. (That is bulk solar cells. There are better cells using rarer materials, but as I understand it they are mostly interesting for space).