Really? Biking could produce more CO2 than driving?
After my last post I was a little concerned that I had done some bad math, or made some fundmental error in my logic.
However, it appears others have done the calculation too…
According to this article, the average beef eating citizen consumes in meat the equivalent energy that it would take to drive 11 miles a day. In essence, producing beef is incredibly energy intensive… using beef as fuel (for a bicycle or walking/running) is much less efficient than converting that energy to pure locomotion.
Michael Bluejay even claims, “The typical American could save almost as much gas by going vegetarian as by not driving.”
So perhaps we should stop eating meat and use all that grain and energy input for producing the grain and make pure fuel?
But the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced, the problem is not in cars or biking… it’s in commuting.
Telecommute or work closer to where you live. Sure it doesn’t work for everyone, but it ought to work for most. You’ll save money and CO2.
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