this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2025
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174
Cycling is ten times more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities (theconversation.com)
submitted 7 hours ago by HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org to c/europe@feddit.org
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[โ€“] Kekzkrieger@feddit.org 10 points 4 hours ago

What else would help is making companies fucking liable (and not just that, their CEOs directly!) for the environment damage they cause.

Oil spill because of neglected maintenance ? Straight to jail for the responsible CEO.

Fake tests for car emmissions? Straight to jail.

The high pay of the C-levels is often argued with the big responsibility they have, when in reality the have none. They should be directly and personally responsbile, thats their job.

[โ€“] HubertManne@piefed.social 15 points 6 hours ago

Im really annoyed they did not do an electric bike thing in the ombudsman bill and just did electric cars.

[โ€“] shekau@lemmy.today 9 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Or at least use e-bike or e-scooter

[โ€“] Anonymaus@feddit.org -1 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

Yeah but production of the battery causes alot of harm to the environment so a classic bike is still far better as it doesn't damage the environment as much

[โ€“] blandfordforever@lemm.ee 1 points 1 hour ago

I'm having a hard time finding a source but I read an article claiming that unless you're vegetarian, a traditional bicycle will have a higher carbon footprint (even taking into account the battery manufacturing) 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.

[โ€“] GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 hours ago

In practice, e-bikes open up cycling to more people and for more trips, likely making them far more net positive than regular bikes.

And this is coming from someone who bikes like mad on non-ebikes

[โ€“] arakhis_@feddit.org 6 points 5 hours ago

i mean I dont blame the usage of cargo e-bikes for grocery travel by for example a 4 headed family.

thats literally best possible option, isnt it?! Or are you saying you could always use a non motored one for for weekly groceries for a family in for example a hilly area too. I dont know, to me e-bikes are pretty essential in that sense and therefore the final solution for mobility. and you can always use a non motored one for other lighter travels but theyre build.. so usage with ie self-hosted solar panel on your roofs, i dont see the issue.. they use like 2% of total materials a e-car does.

would love to hear your thoughts after that

[โ€“] Owlboi@lemm.ee 4 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

only 10x? cycling has 0 climate impact besides the manufacturing of said bycicle itsself.

electric cars not only require 100x crazier manufacturing but also run on electricity which is made in power plants.

frankly you couldve said a million times more important and it would still be a low ball.

[โ€“] x00z@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

There's tire particles that are released and occasional grease and repairs. So it'll never be 0 climate impact after manufacturing. Just a little nitpick.

But it's still the best choice.

[โ€“] mierdabird@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Paradoxically there are actually some indications that the calories burned while bicycling, especially from a meat-heavy diet, lead to more carbon emissions per mile than powering an electric car with anything other than coal. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1108357_electric-cars-vs-bicycles-which-has-a-higher-carbon-footprint There are still a wide variety of societal benefits to more bicycling but it's not quite accurate say "zero" impact I think.

[โ€“] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

It's feels very absurd to see that electric car could be almost twice as efficient with co^2 emissions than vegan riding bicycle, especially considering moving the vehicle 18 times as heavy (driver included).

Would be interesting to see the data used, but looks like the source sheets have been deleted:(

I'd imagine optimizing the bike and rider's physique and diet would likely affect the results dramatically. Dutch style grandma bike is hella lot less efficient than a commuter built for higher speeds, and a rider with more time in the saddle in long term is going to be more efficient on it than a (irr/)regular commuter

[โ€“] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

You're making so many assumptions about the diet and equipment used by your statistically significant cyclist that it's almost cherry-picking, my dude. You realize that, right?

[โ€“] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, that was literally a cherry picking example, showing that in ideal situation, something a person could in theory work for, could be a lot better than the given numbers suggested.

This was all based on assumptions because there was no data available anymore used for that mini study, just laying out thoughts there for my own amusement.

[โ€“] mierdabird@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 hours ago

Definitely a ton if variability in what you'd actually put out depending on bike type, speeds, diet etc

[โ€“] Nalivai@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

The link to the raw data is dead, and it contradicts some other research, and also is an article on something that is called"green car reports". Those are indications of maybe not the most unbiased data

[โ€“] mierdabird@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 hours ago

"At the extremes, a vegan cyclist will produce only 5% of the emissions a conventional pickup truck will produce, while a meat-loving cyclist will actually produce 42% more GHGs than the most efficient EV. " http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2022/ph240/schutt2/

I'm sure the exact numbers are a little open to interpretation but I've seen it mentioned more than once in different places. That said, I absolutely try to commute on my ebike as much as possible

[โ€“] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 4 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

It would be cool if it was an option everywhere. I've cycle commuted. Hell I commuted on a skateboard for two years. But it is not an option where I live now. We can't let mandates get ahead of real world options. Let's make it an option everywhere. The next Dem president will champion this, right?

Right?

Edit just realized this was posted to the europe community. I've lived there a couple of years. You're light years ahead of anywhere else in the world on this stuff. Good job! But don't forget the rest of the world needs at minimum a few decades of massive infrastructure investment to come anywhere near what you already have. If we punish people for not riding bikes where riding a bike is impossible, we only lose support.