• Gsus4
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    56
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    Bikes are actually greener than walking, because if you need to move, they allow you to have a greater daily range for a not much higher footprint (more efficient and 3 times faster).

      • Gsus4
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        24
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        Embedded CO2 for a bike is like 100kg (that’s what 4 trees in your backyard absorb a year), which over a lifetime of 30 years is negligible.

        • tomi000@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          16
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          9 months ago

          You say negligible, but what you mean is negligible on a scale of the CO2 emissions we are used to. Human body CO2 emission is just as negligible on that scale.

          Ill do some quick maths: According to the first source on google, an average human burns 3kcal/min walking and 5kcal/min biking at 15km/h, which is about 3x as fast as walking. Considering that, we arrive at a difference of 1.33kcal/min by walking instead of biking. Estimates suggest 1.3g CO2-equivalents per kcal for average consumption (much lower for vegans), so thats 1.73g CO2/min. 100kg CO2 for bike production would take 57,800min of walking, thats almost 963h. An average bike will probably be used more so I guess you are right and bikes are indeed more efficient than walking :D

          • orrk@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            9 months ago

            CO2 emissions that fall within natural cycles in terms of scale, are negligible.

            • tomi000@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              9 months ago

              I agree, but the question at hand was not whether one or the other was negligible, but which is more efficient: walking or biking.

    • doingthestuff@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      9 months ago

      It’s also really green if you die riding one in places where it’s completely unsafe to ride one like where I live. You eliminate your carbon footprint completely!

      • knotthatone@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        9 months ago

        I was so excited to finally live in a city where I could actually ride a bike to work most of the year until I actually tried it.

        Drivers are assholes, have no awareness of their surroundings, the rules of the road and they give zero shits.

        Nope nope nope. I’ll walk to the train

        • adriaan@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          9 months ago

          It’s not really the drivers’ fault, it’s the bad infrastructure that drives their behavior.

          • knotthatone@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            9 months ago

            I’m talking about running stop signs, gunning it at yellow lights, not using turn signals, using turn signals but not turning, swerving into bike lanes and flinging open their doors without looking.

            Infrastructure like protected bike lanes and robust public transit so fewer people feel the need to drive are great, but bad driving is bad driving.

        • doingthestuff@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          9 months ago

          I lived somewhere with trains half my life ago, it was very nice. I have no trains or buses or sidewalks or even a shoulder on the road. Just fast two-lane curvy backroads with a ditch on the side.