Did you know that over three-quarters of man-caused greenhouse gas emissions emanate from highway transportation vehicles? Anyone concerned about reducing his or her carbon footprint should immediately target their daily commuting method as a top priority.
But eco-friendly transport also has to be practical. You also have to think about cost, time, comfort, maintenance, parking, and a host of other important matters when choosing a more earth-friendly way to commute.
Here are 5 of the most eco-sensitive ways to get yourself to and from work each day, without sacrificing your budget, schedule, or “creature comforts:”
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1. Electric Scooters
Electric bikes, scooters, and motorcycles sold around 200,000 units in 2015, and they are set to sell 300,000 annually by 2024. E-scooters accounted for 5,000 of the 2015 number but are expected to hit over 21,000 units sold by 2024.
In America’s major cities, electric scooters are very practical for short-distance commuters. Given the level of traffic constantly clogging the main arteries, you can usually get there faster on a scooter than by car.
You can find many models of scooter that will travel as fast as 30 mph and get 50 miles or more battery life between charges. When you take into account both features and affordability, here is what I personally find to be the best e-scooter on the market today.
2. Electric Bicycles
An ordinary bike can be a great eco-friendly transport option, and it can give you a good workout too. But there are good reasons to opt for an e-bike instead: easier time going up hills and grades, ability to move faster (20 mph), and never arriving at work all sweaty!
Electric bicycles do not emit any greenhouse gases, no more than electric scooters would. And with either option, you save big on gas and incur only a slight uptick on your monthly electric bill.
3. Electric Cars
If you can afford it, an electric vehicle is an effective way to consistently minimize your use of fossil fuel energy.
With modern electric cars, you can recharge the battery at home, so you don’t have to live nearby a recharge station to use them.
And if you install solar panels on your home, you can have your own personal battery charging station that is run 100% on solar.
4. Electric Motorcycles
At present, e-motorcycles are not mass-produced, and they cost a lot to own (maybe $7,000 for the cheapest models.) That said, they have the same advantages as other e-vehicles, plus they are extremely fun to drive.
With some e-motorcycles, the parts are largely made of recycled materials, yet another earth-friendly bonus!
5. Carpooling & Walking
We mentioned last of all the two most obvious and most traditional ways to cut your “carbon consumption.”
If you live close enough to where you work, just walk. It’s free, good exercise gives you a chance to enjoy the scenery, and doesn’t hurt the Earth. And anytime you need to go anywhere within walking distance, walk, and it will do both you and the planet plenty of good!
Carpooling cuts down dramatically on the number of vehicles occupying the road. That means it reduces traffic, saves money, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
We can sum up the benefits of the various types of eco-friendly transportation mentioned above as follows:
- Little to no burning of fossil fuels, or in the case of carpooling, far less of it at least.
- You save money on gasoline and on maintenance costs. In the case of e-scooters and bikes, you also save as compared to the cost of buying a car.
- You benefit the environment and improve human health too, by not creating pollution that people will breathe.
Everyone can find ways to use an alternative, more earth-friendly transportation at least some of the time. And when you switch to an eco-friendly daily commute method, you enjoy many other benefits as well.
The “footprint” we owe to cars is actually not that big.
The price is also much less. In Norway, most new cars are electric or hybrid because of great plans to replace all vehicles, also in the winter. So purchase is without taxes, while other cars are taxed badly.
I use an electric bike of the kind where I have to pedal or it will stop. I cannot just charge it and wait for it to carry me. The most I have done is 40km / 30 miles with no hills, just city. I can take it along on buses, trams, and train – in my boat. I will consider a “motorcycle” – say 3000W. I have tried this and come to that the simplest ones are not for me. Notice that the batteries are measured in “Watt” – the energy they hold. In old days, batteries were 12V and a car battery 80Amph – P*I = 960W about 1KWh.
So this can then be delivered with 3 car batteries should take me far enough. The engine is also rated in W so this will drive at full speed for about an hour. – I get $3000 for it, nobody better? The Problem is that everybody is buying bikes this year, and they compete with retail prices in Europe up to EUR 4000 for a bike. But nobody offers motorcycles so they are still the old price. I want to use them to go from A to B. But these look good too.