Here’s the obligatory post on biking to work, as a financial independence/ early retirement (FIRE) seeker, but I’m gonna add an additional flavor of eco-friendliness:
I even made an infographic, since that’s what cool kids do these days, if you’re looking for a quick summary. Although, I recommend reading the post to the end and calculate your own ecomoney savings and see if the benefits are applicable to you.
As you’ve probably already discovered, FIRE folks are big proponents of biking to work for obvious (financial) reasons. One can’t talk about biking everywhere and not mention Mr. Money Mustache. If you haven’t already seen his awesome posts on why commuting to work makes sense, see sources at the bottom of the page.
Now, I’m not here to yell at you for not owning a bike. I’m here to share with you what I learned from my experience and show you the solutions I used to overcome the mindsets and habits that prevented me from biking to work before, plus the benefits I’ve seen from biking so far. Hopefully, these ideas will motivate you to start biking to work tomorrow. For your reference, my drive to work is 6 miles which takes me 18-25 min each way, and my bike ride is 6.5 miles which takes me 30-35 min each way.
1) Environmental and Financial Cost of Driving to Work (2 birds with one stone, perhaps?)
It’s amazing how much driving we do without really paying any attention to the impact it has on our ecomoney (our planet and our wallet). According to the EPA website (see sources), less than one third of greenhouse gases in the US are caused by the transportation sector, of which light-duty vehicles (your car and mine) are responsible for 60%. That’s a huge percentage!
We are going to use CO2, as it is a big part of greenhouse gas emissions and has been increasing drastically as a result of our convenient and (fossil fuel) energy dependent lifestyle. When it comes to emissions from vehicles, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are the obvious solutions that come to mind. Even though, there are more affordable options (like Chevy Bolt, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model 3, to name a few) being developed due to increased demand and popularity of EVs, the prices are still fairly high. Especially from an FI perspective, it’s difficult to justify spending $15k-$25k on a new car (although used hybrids like Prius can be purchased at a reasonable price). So, if you can afford a new EV or plug-in hybrid that is awesome and you shouldn’t hesitate. Yous should still consider biking to work, as your emissions aren’t truly zero with an EV. For example, Nissan Leaf 2017 has a combined MPG of 112 which is the equivalent miles per gallon considering emissions from electricity production, distribution, etc. That’s way more efficient than a gasoline engine, but still not zero.
What if you’re someone like me who already owns a used gasoline-engine car, maybe can’t afford a new EV, but at the same time feels they should do something about the environment?
My approach to minimizing the carbon emissions of my driving is to understand the weakness and strength of my car so that I can use it at its optimal performance (weekend trips to visit friends in nearby towns, or go surfing and/or hiking – majority highway driving) and avoid it at its worst inefficient performance conditions. Everyone knows that cars are more efficient in highways and way less efficient in city driving due to frequent braking and energy loss, idling while waiting at a red light, frequent accelerating and decelerating etc. That’s why if you look at your car’s gas-mileage you’ll find a higher performance for highways and much lower MPG for city conditions. Before I go into details, it’s important to note we’ll make reasonable and simplifying assumptions in the process to help understand an otherwise complex multi-variable problem.
Time to get into real world examples and stop talking about obvious facts. Get your calculator and pour yourself a cup of coffee because the fun’s about to begin. My daily drive to work is around 6 miles each way, through regular streets with traffic lights (no highway), conditions at which my car is the least efficient with the lowest gas mileage. I drive a 2004 Honda Accord that I bought used for under $5k a few years ago (FIRE pat on the back for not leasing or buying an expensive new car). While this car has a decent mileage on the freeway, it doesn’t do well in city driving conditions. As you can see in the image below, 24 miles per gallon in city and 31 in highway. Data based on EPA emissions data*. EPA’s fuel economy toolkit has a lot of great resources, similar to the MPG calculator page (see sources at the bottom of the page).
I’ll need to replace the city driving with something more efficient. I’m not here to just give you an environmental lecture, at least I need to give it a financial independence disguise. So, how does all of this translate to my every day ecomoney savings from replacing driving to work with biking?
The realistic number for city driving according to EPA is the lower limit, which also matches my calcs: 21 MPG, esp. if you consider the losses in efficiency when you start driving a cold engine in the morning. With my 12-mile round trip commute everyday – that’s 0.57 gallons (=12 mi/21 mpg)- with gas at $3.25/gallon, I lose close to $1.9 on just fuel. If you add the cost of your car insurance, maintenance, depreciation and wear and tear to that, the number is even higher. Note that the number IRS considers as deductible cost of operating a vehicle (for business – during 2016), is 54 cents per mile. That’s $6.50 for my commute for just one day!! I’ll use 35 cents per mile, $4.2/day to be conservative (inexpensive car to maintain, etc) I’m losing $85/mo and almost $1000/year for just driving to work!! That amount saved and invested, with compounding interest, will add up to over $14,000 in 10 years. I still don’t get why FIRE folks love these 10-year calcs 😛
What about the ecological cost of driving to work?
One of the common challenges in trying to make eco-friendly decisions (being #woke as kids call it these days) is making the carbon footprint relatable and tangible. As in the case of driving my Accord to work, is 370 grams of CO2 per mile a lot? How do I visualize the emissions I generate as a result of driving to work? These are tough questions. And when I did my research, I didn’t find any satisfactory visualizations that I could relate to as an individual. I mean there are plenty of numbers, graphs and reports about different nations’ carbon footprints, but what’s my share of that? I asked around and found out other people were also feeling detached from the environmental consequences of their decisions, just as I did, due to a lack of proper information. So, here’s my attempt at providing some meaningful ways we can measure our carbon footprint.
First things first: How much CO2 is produced when a gallon of gasoline is combusted? 1 gallon of gasoline creates 19.6 lbs (8887 g) of CO2 (EPA)**
So, let’s go back to my daily commute and put that into context. My car burns 0.57 gallons to take me to work and back, which creates 11.2 lbs of CO2. To visualize that, imagine a 2.5-ft exercise ball. It takes 1 lb of CO2 at room temperature to fill up that ball. The tailpipe emission from my car can fill up 11 of those on ONE day!! Still can’t picture that, does this help?
If you’re still having trouble picturing your car emissions in a meaningful way (’cause the last example wasn’t enough !!), here’s another way of looking at it: Trees. A tree can absorb as much as 48 lbs of CO2 per year (this is an average, the amount can vary depending on the type, age and size of the tree). So one week (5 days) of driving to work generates more CO2 than a tree can absorb in one YEAR. Let that sink in. Think about that the next time you’re coming up with an excuse to not bike to work.
That’s bonkers when you think about it. And to blow your mind even more, how many trees does it take to absorb emissions from my work commute in one year (11.2*5*50= 2800 lbs of CO2 /48 lbs absorbed by a tree) = 58.3 trees. Can I see a picture of that, you ask? Very well, then:
Another common number you’ll see: An acre of trees absorbs enough CO2 in one year to offset driving a car 26,000 miles!! That’s about twice the number of miles an average person drives in one year. Keep in mind that I have a relatively short commute and my car has average fuel efficiency. A lot of my coworkers’ commutes are over 20-25 miles per day.
So, when it comes to climate change we usually tell ourselves “I’m just a single drop in the ocean. What difference can I make?” The answer is a lot, and here’s the proof. You’re welcome. If I haven’t guilt-tripped you into biking to work yet, read on.
I recommend you run the numbers for your car too, and keep track of your ecomoney savings. Maybe make an image of your car with your calculated CO2 from your daily commute visualized, print it and put it up on the wall where you can see as a reminder to yourself about the cost of your decision to not bike to work (some of us are visual learners and also need reminders).
You can look up your vehicle’s MPG using this EPA tool:
So, if $$ savings weren’t enough to convince me to bike to work the environmental savings should do the jobs. Ecomoney for the win. But that’s only one reason for biking to work. Here are more:
2) Health
General Health
This part is obvious, and you already know it but I’m gonna repeat it anyway and provide links to some studies. There are studies after studies showing cycling has great health benefits : improving cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength, reducing the risk of obesity, diabetes and cancer, improving mental health, improving life expectancy and bone density. Best of all, it’s a low impact activity (gentle on your joints) that you can choose to do at whatever intensity you like. Some studies have even shown the economic significance of biking in the community, like this study in Minnesota .
“I’m gonna start going to the gym 2-3 times a week…starting next week,” that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? We all know that we need more exercise, esp. with our increasingly sedentary lifestyle. We all want to live healthy happy lives, right? So, what’s holding us back?
On average, we sit for 10 hours in a typical workday, including lunch and daily commute (driving), add to that the time you need to shop, cook, eat, maybe watch an episode of your favorite show, or read your favorite book, and still have time to hang out with family and friends. That’s why it’s hard to find time to go to the gym, plus it requires willpower which is a finite resource that might already have been depleted at work (willpower is like a muscle and you can strengthen it, more on that later). That’s part of the reason people set certain fitness goals to go to the gym, maybe do so for a few weeks but often fail to continue that behavior. I’m not trying to come up with excuses for not going to the gym, but mostly trying to emphasize how challenging that can be given our busy schedules.
Biking for me has been a great way to fit my exercise goals in my busy schedule (I do martial arts, photography, cook new recipes, read books and try to maintain a social life in addition to a 40 hour work week and sometimes volunteering on weekends…did I mention this blog?), and is probably one of the few multitasking tools that actually works: commute and exercise. When I bike to work, I start the day with 30-35 minutes of exercise (my one way commute), and I do stretches while logging into my computer and checking my emails. That’s starting my day with 40-45 minutes of workout, and imagine how good that feels. On my way back and by the time I get home, I’m already warmed up and have done cardio. Then I do some yoga or tai chi stretches, add in some pull-ups and push-ups and boom done for the day, with 1.5 hours of exercise (having biked for over an hour total as my commute). Suck it, gym rats! Actually #respect, that’s a lot of dedication and y’all are #goals.
Alternatively, if I want to get the same 1.5 hour of exercise on a day that I drive to work, I’ll have to add that to my 45 min commute. That’s an additional 45 min I could’ve spent on cooking or reading or catching up on my favorite show instead of sitting in traffic.
Even without adding the cost of gym membership per month ($30-45), you’re saving time and money while improving your health (don’t forget the environmental benefits). Biking to work is a clear winner vs. driving. And the best part is that once you get in the habit of doing it, it won’t require much will power (unlike going to the gym). Some of my coworkers drive to work and then to the gym to go to “spin” class for an hour, without really thinking about how much time and ecomoney this costs them. It shouldn’t be just the FIRE folks’ goal to optimize their life, it should be everyone’s.
Weight loss is also considered as a byproduct of biking, but I’d be careful about that argument since your appetite increases as you exercise more and the net effect might not be losing weight…In my case, I have lost 10-15 lbs and reached my ideal weight, and the best part is that I eat everything I want (to moderation, and mostly healthy stuff). One study that resonated with me (perhaps confirmation bias?) suggested those who exercised the first thing in the morning, before eating anything, didn’t gain weight and retained healthy insulin levels even after their diet had a 30% increase in calories and 50% increase in fat as part of the study. I don’t normally eat before biking to work, and afterwards reward myself with a toasted bagel and lots of cream cheese, or a big bowl of oatmeal if I feel healthy, and I don’t hesitate to eat the free donut someone brought in that day.
Mental Health
That’s a topic we don’t often talk about, and is usually brought up when referring to serious mental conditions. We were taught to brush our teeth and floss everyday at an early age, yet we ignore brushing our mental health on even a weekly basis. This is becoming increasingly important in our modern time of constant distractions and stress. Since I started biking to work, I’ve noticed that I have less stress and have been much happier. It’s amazing how many ‘hellos’ and smiles you get from other cyclists and pedestrians when you’re biking. That almost never happens when you drive. On the contrary, you might get flipped off. I’ll take smiles over the middle finger any day. Let me compare my observations on a typical day driving to work vs biking to work:
Driving to work: In the morning, I sip on my coffee and listen to the radio (mostly news) on my drive – and if you’ve been following the news, you might have also felt frustrated and angry on a regular basis – so by the time I get to work I’m already not in a good mood. After a long and tiring day at work, on my drive back, I try to switch between music and news while sitting in traffic and dealing with other people’s crappy driving. So, when I get home I turn on the TV or get on the internet for an hour or so (as if I hadn’t already spent most of my day sitting and staring at a monitor).
Biking to work: I start my day going through residential areas with beautiful landscapes, full of smiles and good smells. Plus I have time to think about what I’m gonna do that day which leads to another side effect of biking: increased productivity both at home and at work. I start the day in a better mood and already know where I left off work the day before. On my ride back home, biking is engaging and fun enough to help me mentally cool off and get my mind off the workday. Since I started biking to work, I’ve had more time to read, or cook healthier foods and generally more time for my hobbies. I still read the news and try to stay informed, but do it on my breaks or lunch, instead of letting it take control of my day and affect my mood.
Back Pain
I never thought I’d get back pain, I mean I’ve always been active and healthy. Plus, isn’t that an old people thing? Nope. It took only one year of working for it to start. Almost everyone around me had experienced it to some degree. They even jokingly called it the “engineering syndrome,” because you sit at your desk all day and work on your computer. Back pain is a lot more common than you think. It’s estimated to cost Americans around 90 billion dollars a year! I’ll summarize the article for you:
Exercise is one of the effective types of therapy that’s also cheap (free perhaps): It can increase muscle strength, which can help support the spine; It can improve flexibility and range of motion in the back, which can help people’s functional movement and get them back to their normal living; it can boost blood flow to the soft tissues in the back, which promotes healing and reduces stiffness.
I have been biking to work for a few months now and can attest to the claim of the above statement. My back pain was reduced drastically, almost completely gone. If you have experienced back pain, you know that it can be painful and physically limiting therefore affecting your mental state as well. I’m not claiming biking was solely responsible for the improvements. It was also a precursor to more behavioral changes: I do more stretches throughout the day, more likely to stick to muscle strengthening exercises, move around more and got better at planning and prepping for the next day. If you have read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (an awesome book), you’ll see that biking is a “keystone habit”, one that can jump-start new behaviors and change bad old ones.
3) Food Waste Reduction
Another unexpected side effect of biking was smaller urge to impulse-shop after work. You’re probably reading this and thinking “nah, I’m pretty good at controlling myself when it comes to that stuff.” So did I! That is, until I noticed the change after biking. A little backstory: Consumers in the US waste about one third of their food . Imagine going to the store, buying 3 bags of groceries, walking out and tossing one of the bags into trash! That’s what we’re all doing by letting our food go to waste (let old fruit, vegetables and food rot in the fridge), by buying more food than we need.
If you account for waste from restaurants and grocery stores, that number is closer to 50% !! Again, Americans waste 50% of their food and throw it away, which is the highest per capita in the world. This is not only a financial problem, it’s also an environmental one. Food waste ends up in landfills and creates methane which is a greenhouse gas emission and a big contributor to climate change. One solution is to buy less groceries and use what you already have before it goes bad (I’ll go over that in another post). And biking facilitated that by reducing the convenience of stopping at a store on my way home from work. It’s a lot easier to give in to your hunger or to the brilliant advertisements at the store after a long and tiring day at work where you’ve probably exhausted your willpower.
Don’t get me wrong, when it comes to grocery shopping I ride my bike to the store most of the time but that requires taking a few locks which are heavy (why? LA County is notorious for bike theft), so I make plans before shopping, have a list in hand and buy only what I need. I’m still experimenting with some ideas, and will hopefully write a post on that.
4) Biking is the New Golf
Biking is being adopted by the executives as the new cool sport, replacing golf. I don’t have a link to a study here but my observations combined with my cyclist friends’ observations strongly support that claim 🙂 “Ok, super cool. What does that have to do to me?” Well, that gives you a tool to network and be noticed by higher-ups at work. I have been on group rides with the regional Vice President of my company a few times (quick update, I saw an announcement that he got promoted to a higher level position this week). Our CEO has his secret group of riding buddies in every site his visits. You don’t normally get opportunities like that. I’ve been able to connect to managers and senior managers who also ride, and that has opened up opportunities in my career. Biking can also help you advance in your career and reach FI faster.
I hope this motivated you to give biking to work a go and enjoy the benefits for yourself. Now move on to my next post for tips on biking to work, esp. if you don’t know where to start.
If you bike to work, what benefits have you noticed? What motivates you the most to not drive to work?
Sources:
- Mr. Money Mustache posts on biking here and here .
- Facts about GHG emissions of Transportation: EPA website
- Find the emissions and MPG of your car: EPA emissions data , fuel economy toolkit , MPG calculator .
- Deductible cost of operating a vehicle for business according to IRS
- Amount of CO2 an average tree can absorb in a year
- EPA Greenhouse Gases Equivalencies Calculator
- Cycling to work can cut cancer and heart disease, BBC
- Health benefits of biking
- Study on economic and health benefits of biking in Minnesota
- Study on best time of the day to exercise, NYTimes.
- A comprehensive guide to the new science of treating lower back pain, Vox
- Americans waste one third of their food, Washington Examiner
- Half of all US produce is thrown away, new study suggests. The Guardian
- It’s time to get serious about reducing food waste, Feds say. NPR
* How does EPA measure CO2 emissions from vehicles? (source)
- EPA and automobile manufacturers measure vehicle fuel economy and CO2 emissions using a set of standardized laboratory tests. These tests were designed by EPA to mimic typical driving patterns. EPA and the Department of Transportation use these values to ensure that manufacturers meet federal greenhouse gas and corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards.
- For every new vehicle, the test results are used to determine real world fuel economy and CO2 emissions. These adjusted results are used on the Fuel Economy and Environment Labels and on Fueleconomy.gov.
**CO2 generation per Gallons of gasoline consumed (source)
To obtain the number of grams of CO2 emitted per gallon of gasoline combusted, the heat content of the fuel per gallon is multiplied by the kg CO2 per heat content of the fuel. In the preamble to the joint EPA/Department of Transportation rulemaking on May 7, 2010 that established the initial National Program fuel economy standards for model years 2012-2016, the agencies stated that they had agreed to use a common conversion factor of 8,887 grams of CO2 emissions per gallon of gasoline consumed (Federal Register 2010).
This value assumes that all the carbon in the gasoline is converted to CO2 (IPCC 2006). 8,887 grams of CO2/gallon of gasoline = 8.887 × 10-3 metric tons CO2/gallon of gasoline