Environmental Cost of Producing a Bicycle

[the snail]

raw steel 1.3kg! my smugness is reaching dangerous levels If I don't drive, how far do I have to pedal then?

 

[Arch]

This sort of calculation, trying to calculate a CO2 emission factor for cycling based on food consumption, is extremely dubious, as it assumes that people will eat additional food in proportional to the distance they cycle. That is an extremely bad assumption. The amount people eat is affected by a far greater range of variables than the amount of physical activity undertaken, especially when talking about the relatively short distances typical of cycling to work for example. Imagine a situation where you have two people who eat exactly the same amount of food, and have the same distance commutes, but one drives and the other cycles. If you count part of the cyclists' food as a transport emission, where do you count the CO2 in the driver's food? Unless food consumption really can be shown to have a direct relationship with distance, its associated emissions ought not be counted as transport emissions. They shouldn't be ignored of course, but are far more logically accounted for in the carbon budgets for agriculture and food production.

Indeed, it's a minefield. And what about whether someone's diet is omnivorous or vegetarian. Mostly imported or all home grown? Lots of ingredients homecooked or lots of preprocessed food?

I think the main thing is it's better to cycle when you can. No matter how much you eat, I don't think you could generate the same carbon as a car and all it's related infrastructure....

 

[mcshroom]

I follow your working (I think) and it seems to make sense.

So an estimate of about 500miles (+/- 300 miles) would be a good estimate for a bike. That means I'm in profit then

 

[Davidc]

Next - the average life expectancy of a cyclist is reported to be 2 years more than that of a non cyclist (see where this is going?).

Carbon footprint of a person living in Britain, for 2 years?

Don't forget that it counts against the bike!

More seriously I strongly suspect that if you look at the embedded carbon in a car it's loads more than any bike.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I love all this hypothesising and mental mathdurbating, but all you've managed to demonstrate to me so far is that the future of green transport is probably the horse

 

[mcshroom]

Or Shanks' pony

 

[slowmotion]

I love all this hypothesising and mental mathdurbating, but all you've managed to demonstrate to me so far is that the future of green transport is probably the horse

No. Methane is a very naughty bad gas.

Or is that cows...?

 

[Arch]

Next - the average life expectancy of a cyclist is reported to be 2 years more than that of a non cyclist (see where this is going?).

Carbon footprint of a person living in Britain, for 2 years?

Don't forget that it counts against the bike!

More seriously I strongly suspect that if you look at the embedded carbon in a car it's loads more than any bike.

Although (as mentioend in that other story), there is a likliehood that a regular cyclist will have a lower carbon lifestyle than a non cyclist, thus negating the extra years.

Oh, and here's a thing. Which is lower carbon, being fit and healthy, or being unfit and unhealthy. Carbon footprint of hospitals and statins?

 

[Yellow Fang]

I love all this hypothesising and mental mathdurbating, but all you've managed to demonstrate to me so far is that the future of green transport is probably the horse

Possibly, they're not ruminants, so probably don't produce much methane.

The environmental cost of manufacturing a bicycle is not that much, although I don't know the figures. Carbon fibre has low embodied energy, but it's manufacture uses toxic substances. The manufacture of steel takes much less energy than aluminium or titanium from ore, although, I gather recycled aluminium is pretty good. OTOH a titanium frame should last a life time. Get a bamboo bike if you're really worried.

 

[slowmotion]

Let's really look on the bright side. The longer you live, the better the carbon scrubbers will be on the crematorium exhaust pipe.

 

[Davidc]

Although (as mentioend in that other story), there is a likliehood that a regular cyclist will have a lower carbon lifestyle than a non cyclist, thus negating the extra years.

Oh, and here's a thing. Which is lower carbon, being fit and healthy, or being unfit and unhealthy. Carbon footprint of hospitals and statins?

Some of us manage to be in both groups, well fit and unhealthy anyway!

 

[dellzeqq]

Let's really look on the bright side. The longer you live, the better the carbon scrubbers will be on the crematorium exhaust pipe.

cool! Or.....and bear in mind that there's likely to be less of the cyclist.

With respect to all of the above - you haven't taken in to account the carbon cost of roadways and car parking, nor the carbon cost of buildings that service and sell cars, nor even the carbon cost of cities becoming larger because car ownership and use tends to decrease the density of cities.

And that's before we get to the water cost of cars, which, in less temperate parts of the world, is probably the greater sin against humanity.

 

[Davidc]

^^ not to mention the health care carbon costs directly attributable to cars: Lung disease, asthma, lead poisoning*, direct injuries, stress, and lots more.

Then there's the carbon costs of cleaning buildings, street furniture etc.

What about the carbon cost of all the signage and the power used by traffic lights and sign illumination?

Using bikes can only be a small part of the solution though. Not sure how we get away from motorised road transport since our built environment has, for at least 75 years, been designed around the motor vehicle not people so we can't do without the things any more

* shold cease to be one of the problems over the next 30 to 40 years.

 

[Fab Foodie]

... not to mention the carbon cost of all those bloody cyclists computers on the Internet .... discussing carbon footprints ....

 

[Davidc]

... not to mention the carbon cost of all those bloody cyclists computers on the Internet .... discussing carbon footprints ....

...and of course Admin's server.

I love all this hypothesising and mental mathdurbating, but all you've managed to demonstrate to me so far is that the future of green transport is probably the horse

How much have you been drinking? I've never seen a green horse.