Unless you’re vegetarian, a traditional bicycle will have a higher carbon footprint than an ebike, due to how inefficient it is to grow and transport food when compared to production of electrical power.
Ebikes are way more efficient than electric cars, too. I calculated that my bike uses about 40 watt hours per mile, compared to about 250-350 for an electric car.
If you are having a hard time finding a source, it’s probably because there is none. Riding short distances burns very little calories and most calories the body needs are from idle consumption. Which the battery has to solve degree too
Riding a short distance vs riding a long distance is irrelevant. Both systems require an amount of energy per unit of distance. Because the energy is supplied in different ways, there is a different total amount of carbon emitted of per unit of energy. For ebikes, that amount is lower than it is for traditional, human powered bikes.
A watt hour is equal to 0.86 nutritional calories.
My estimate of 40 watt hours per mile converts to about 35 kcal.
Estimates of the energy taken to pedal a bike are about 30-40 kcal/mile.
That checks out!
1 kilowatt hour is equivalent to 860 kcal.
1 kilowatt hour from a coal power plant generates about 1.0-1.1 kg of CO2.
For a typical Western diet, studies suggest that the average emissions associated with food production and transportation can range from about 0.5 to 2.5 kg of CO2 per 1,000 kcal of food consumed. (0.4-2.1 kg of CO2 per 860 kcal)
The ebike generally has a smaller environmental footprint than the analog bike, as most sources of power produce less CO2 than coal power plants and most people eat more meat than necessary, putting them in the higher range of the food CO2 production range.
I wonder what the numbers are like in the context of someone’s total energy consumption. I guess cycling would still be much more efficient because it doubles as exercise.
Unless you’re vegetarian, a traditional bicycle will have a higher carbon footprint than an ebike, due to how inefficient it is to grow and transport food when compared to production of electrical power.
Ebikes are way more efficient than electric cars, too. I calculated that my bike uses about 40 watt hours per mile, compared to about 250-350 for an electric car.
If you are having a hard time finding a source, it’s probably because there is none. Riding short distances burns very little calories and most calories the body needs are from idle consumption. Which the battery has to solve degree too
IIRC cycling is the lowest joule/km form of transport available.
Riding a short distance vs riding a long distance is irrelevant. Both systems require an amount of energy per unit of distance. Because the energy is supplied in different ways, there is a different total amount of carbon emitted of per unit of energy. For ebikes, that amount is lower than it is for traditional, human powered bikes.
Here are a couple sources, dickface:
https://www.ebikes.ca/documents/Ebike_Energy.pdf
https://www.bikeradar.com/features/long-reads/cycling-environmental-impact
TIL ebike riders don’t need food.
A watt hour is equal to 0.86 nutritional calories. My estimate of 40 watt hours per mile converts to about 35 kcal. Estimates of the energy taken to pedal a bike are about 30-40 kcal/mile. That checks out!
1 kilowatt hour is equivalent to 860 kcal.
1 kilowatt hour from a coal power plant generates about 1.0-1.1 kg of CO2.
For a typical Western diet, studies suggest that the average emissions associated with food production and transportation can range from about 0.5 to 2.5 kg of CO2 per 1,000 kcal of food consumed. (0.4-2.1 kg of CO2 per 860 kcal)
The ebike generally has a smaller environmental footprint than the analog bike, as most sources of power produce less CO2 than coal power plants and most people eat more meat than necessary, putting them in the higher range of the food CO2 production range.
That’s super cool to know!
I wonder what the numbers are like in the context of someone’s total energy consumption. I guess cycling would still be much more efficient because it doubles as exercise.