Electric Bikes Are Good For The Environment – Earth Day

Electric Bikes And Earth Day – Good For The Environment

One of the ways Electric Bikes are good for the environment is because they reduce our carbon footprint. Zero emissions. Earth Day is here 2019! Electric Bikes run on clean energy and are zero emission vehicles. Zero emission vehicles don’t add to air pollution.

As I was researching this topic I saw a statement. It said riding for 10 minutes would save 500 pounds of carbon emissions going into the air. I will be doing more research into this data along with how they come up with it. For such a statement there should be a way to validate it.

If you have any comments/knowledge/resource on this please leave them below.

Another study “Life Cycle Assessment of Transportation Options for Commuters” by Shreya Dave at MIT reported that the carbon emissions of an e-bike to be about equal to that of a non-electric bicycle.

You may think that your actions have little to no impact to help the environment. This isn’t true especially when you look at the things you do routinely. It adds up!

Electric Bike Batteries

The first thing someone could argue is that the e-bike uses batteries and those batteries get disposed of. They wind up in a landfill. E-bike batteries last a long time. They can be recycled and they don’t contain lead. To find a battery recycling location go to http://www.call2recycle.org. By the way, they take all kinds of batteries. Electric bikes are good for the environment.

The bike and the batteries need fewer resources to manufacture.

Roadway Relief

 

With fewer cars using a roadway – bikes instead – the roads will sustain less damage over time. A car or truck deteriorates the roads with their weight.

Why Electric Bikes Are Slow To Adopt in North America

While Western Europe and the Asian-Pacific populations have embraced e-bikes creating double-digit annual growth. One of the barriers to more riders adopting e-bikes in North America is that many people see bikes as a recreational pastime. They see a bike as a toy. They don’t see e-bikes as an economical, environmentally friendly, healthy way of transportation. They don’t realize how electric bikes are good for the environment.

With our traffic problems and emissions, e-bikes help on both issues. But North American electric bike sales are still lower than in some other countries.

One of the reasons – besides mindset – is legislative. There is much so confusion and patchwork laws have been created that see e-bikes as mopeds. This misunderstanding of the e-vehicle creates laws that ban them from bike lanes, public transportation, and other allowable uses.

Yet another problem is needing more protected bike lanes. Sharing the road can be tricky. Especially with 2 groups that still have a poor view of e-bikes. Cyclists and motorists.

Cyclists view them with disdain. Feeling that an e-bike is cheating. Motorists don’t much care for any 2 wheeled vehicles.

In spite of these views, there is definitely a place for e-bikes in transportation. Awareness and exposure will help to get more people to adopt.

Good For Your Health

While you might not think being in better health would be good for the environment let’s think about this.

With more exercise and fresh air, your body will become stronger. A stronger body = less chance of injury. Less chance of illness. A stronger body to deal with any illness or injury is beneficial. Your body is more efficient at healing itself the stronger you are.

Less stress. Going out on your electric bike is a stress reducer. Commuting on your e-bike is a stress reducer. Traffic jams are very stressful! Stress can be a contributor to disease.

Better health = less strain on the medical system and fewer bills for you.

Little By Little

E-bikes have become easier to acquire. It’s easier to find them locally. More bike shops are adding them to their inventory. They are easily accessible online. The cost has come down because the price of lithium batteries has dropped.

An Electric Bike may not replace your car all the time but using one will be helpful to the environment. They are a perfect solution to traffic congestion, air pollution, and noise.