A couple of years back I saw some napkin math claiming e-bikes has a lower CO-2 impact than normal bikes or walking since power plants and motors are more effective than your body at energy conversion. Couldn’t find the same source (and it was in my language anyways) but did find this (with a ton of other sites claiming similar things when searching)
… and I’m deeply skeptical of that. Bodies use a lot of energy sitting still and when we do work it’s not all additional energy burnt.
On top, if you start bike commuting it’s not necessarily extra exercise in your day. For a lot of people it’ll be more a case of shifting how and when you get exercise. My commute’s up to 7 miles with some hills now and I am absolutely doing less physical work the rest of the time as a result. I’m getting a great amount of exercise and having shorter commute time and saving a lot of money and getting healthier. Perhaps I eat more as a result of doing this commute, but I don’t perceive it. I just eat the same meals at the same size as ever.
… and … I don’t remember the article justification for sure, but I seem to recall they were comparing the full lifecycle energy cost of the ebike, including ultimate disposal and reuse of motors and batteries. All in all, I frankly flat out don’t believe it, though I freely admit this mostly my gut feel.
Aren’t we supposed to be growing and eating local food in a solarpunk future?
Just finished reading @poVoq@slrpnk.net’s link, and it is a bit more detailed than the food footprint.
emissions of bike manufacturing. Researchers have calculated the greenhouse gas emissions caused by manufacturing an aluminum e-bike at 320 kg. [8] This compares to 212 kg for the production of an unassisted aluminum bicycle and 35 kg for an unassisted steel bicycle.
Thank poVoq. lowtech is the posterchild for most of what we are discussing.
I find it interesting you can get basically different results by focusing on singular points. I can’t imagine in the future there will be a strong mining industry still churning out batteries that fit every proprietary connector. Perhaps if the e-bike industry went open source and shared designs would be the best of both worlds.
A used, commonly found steel framed bike with nonproprietary parts, local carbohydrates, downhill both ways sounds like the perfect situation.
A couple of years back I saw some napkin math claiming e-bikes has a lower CO-2 impact than normal bikes or walking since power plants and motors are more effective than your body at energy conversion. Couldn’t find the same source (and it was in my language anyways) but did find this (with a ton of other sites claiming similar things when searching)
… and I’m deeply skeptical of that. Bodies use a lot of energy sitting still and when we do work it’s not all additional energy burnt.
On top, if you start bike commuting it’s not necessarily extra exercise in your day. For a lot of people it’ll be more a case of shifting how and when you get exercise. My commute’s up to 7 miles with some hills now and I am absolutely doing less physical work the rest of the time as a result. I’m getting a great amount of exercise and having shorter commute time and saving a lot of money and getting healthier. Perhaps I eat more as a result of doing this commute, but I don’t perceive it. I just eat the same meals at the same size as ever.
… and … I don’t remember the article justification for sure, but I seem to recall they were comparing the full lifecycle energy cost of the ebike, including ultimate disposal and reuse of motors and batteries. All in all, I frankly flat out don’t believe it, though I freely admit this mostly my gut feel.
Aren’t we supposed to be growing and eating local food in a solarpunk future?
Just finished reading @poVoq@slrpnk.net’s link, and it is a bit more detailed than the food footprint.
I’d love to, but until then I don’t want to starve or hold off on movement :D
Thanks for bringing my attention to that source, much better! Seems similar as to how I remembered it but I could obviously have worded it better
Thank poVoq. lowtech is the posterchild for most of what we are discussing.
I find it interesting you can get basically different results by focusing on singular points. I can’t imagine in the future there will be a strong mining industry still churning out batteries that fit every proprietary connector. Perhaps if the e-bike industry went open source and shared designs would be the best of both worlds.
A used, commonly found steel framed bike with nonproprietary parts, local carbohydrates, downhill both ways sounds like the perfect situation.