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A comment on Electricity Map – Live CO2 emissions of electricity consumption. Parent comment

Re:Electricity Map – Live CO2 emissions of electricity consu... by Tade0 on Thursday August 16, 2018 @07:45AM (#17773782)
> Wouldn’t there be more CO2 involved in producing the car compared to a few bikes?

Crazily enough there's generally less CO2 involved in producing the car than having each of a few people ride bicycles a distance equal to a typical car's life-cycle mileage.

Here's my math: For lack of a better source I'm using Renault's own environmental assessment for the Fluence Z.E[0], which puts its production-related emissions at ~8 metric tonnes of CO2. Over 150k km (which is not a lot for a car, but we want a number achievable by a cyclist over their lifetime) that results in ~53.3g/km of CO2.

As for driving let's assume that a fully loaded EV requires 200Wh/km to move around - In France that amounts to 10.6g/km[1].

So overall we have a well-to-wheels footprint of 63.9g/km.

Now here's the fun part:

A typical Vegan will be responsible for 1.5 metric tonnes of CO2 annualy @ 2600kcal daily, so 1kcal = ~1.57g of CO2 - This is the most environmentally friendly diet. Cycling can vary greatly in intensity[3], but let's say 250kcal/h at 10km/h is a reasonable estimate.

Given these figures a single vegan on a bicycle going 10km/h is responsible for 39.25g/km of CO2. According to some sources[4] my numbers aren't that far off.

CONCLUSION (caps for visibility): Two vegans on bicycles having a 17km commute are responsible for 78.5g/km, while the same two vegans in an EV in France produce only 63.9g/km. Bump that to four vegans and we're getting awkwardly close to a typical combustion engine car's emissions.

Meanwhile environmentally conscious(heh) meat-eaters should probably stay off bicycles, eat less and carpool in a compact car.

[0] Page 91 of: https://group.renault.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/fluence...

[1] http://environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2017/2/11/german-e...

[2] http://www.greeneatz.com/foods-carbon-footprint.html

[3] https://keisan.casio.com/exec/system/1350958587

[4] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jun/08/carbon-f...

EDIT: formatting.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electricity Map – Live CO2 emissions of electricity consu... by VBprogrammer on Thursday August 16, 2018 @08:44AM (#17774110)
While I whole heatedly applaud your efforts; reducing this down to carbon emissions alone is so completely ridiculous as far as logical arguments go.

There are a whole host of negative externalities involved in driving a car that riding a bike (or 4) just don't even come close to.

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Re:Electricity Map – Live CO2 emissions of electricity consu... by Tade0 on Thursday August 16, 2018 @09:46AM (#17774538)
You're absolutely right and I wouldn't suggest anybody to ditch their bike in favor of a car just because one factor supports this notion.

But this exercise shows one thing: when it comes to reducing our carbon footprint personal transport is actually a relatively low hanging fruit. Same for electricity really.

Food seems to be the hard problem here. I heard somewhere that a safe level of emissions is one metric tonne of CO2 per capita annually. Vegans do 1.5t.

Maybe it will get lower once transportation is cleaned up? I don't know.

EDIT: To be clear - my original write-up was a little bit in jest. This one is my serious position.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electricity Map – Live CO2 emissions of electricity consu... by morsch on Thursday August 16, 2018 @08:33AM (#17774037)
This is orthogonal to your point, but: people usually limit their commute by bike to, say, less than 5 to 10 km one way. On the other hand, people think nothing of commuting 50 to 100 km one way by car.
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