Recently a friend asked me what kind of impact I thought my bike commuting had on reducing my personal carbon footprint. Concern for the environment is certainly one of the many reasons I enjoy biking (and bike commuting particularly) but I'd never tried to even estimate the positive effects these choices might be having.
So, I decided to conduct a very crude "back of the envelope" estimate of the impact my bike commuting has on reducing my carbon footprint and came up with the following estimate:
Using a standard carbon calculator on the web, I estimated my car emissions at 4.39 metric tons of CO2 annually. Assuming that I travel roughly the same number of miles by car each day I drive (weekdays or weekends), and considering I commute by bike an average of 3 times per week from at least May through roughly October, I avoid driving approximately 65-70 times per year. This doesn't count my weekend rides, which are typically much longer, but these rides aren't really substitutes for driving (though at least I don't have to drive to the gym, ball field or other meeting place for this hobby!). This means I bike as opposed to drive somewhere around 17-20% of the year. This would put the reduction in my carbon footprint at at least 3/4 of a metric ton of CO2.
While I was pretty please to learn this, it's made me want to try to commute a little more this year, and at least get my percentage up to 20%. Please let me know if you find any major flaws in my reasoning.
1 comment:
I've enjoyed your columns in the Southwest Journal. Great way to encourage people to get on their bikes.
For us, living car-free is the best way to get to know our city and the wonderful inhabitants! Check out our experiment in car free living at our blog, carfreefamily.wordpress.com
Jeanne
Post a Comment