I am a long-time bike commuter who, in the early years, made a habit of logging rides the old-fashioned way, using a pen and a small paper journal. I would tally weekly, monthly, and yearly distances traveled by bike and pat myself on the back for being a conscientious protector of the environment.
As years went by and mobile smartphones became ubiquitous, I stumbled upon a new app called Strava (dating myself), where I could record any athletic activity. Although I mostly used it for fitness tracking (which I still do), you could also assign an activity as a commute. These commute types in Strava at some later release started showing carbon, or CO2, savings offset which I thought was interesting but couldn’t quite get my head around what it meant or how it was calculated (it is calculated, will share here soon - keep reading.) Moreover, there was no way to filter on commute type to get total savings over a period of time so the data point seemed meaningless without more context.
Before going further I’d like to point out that in no way is this an exact science. Many variables come into play that influence carbon savings offset, savings being the difference when avoiding alternative means of transportation such as a gasoline-powered vehicle, an e-bike vs. pure pedal power. Then if EV or e-bike, what is the upstream source of power to charge the battery - solar or some other form of renewable or is it an antiquated coal-burning power plant. Or how about this one, your diet. Do you eat a lot of beef or are you a vegan? Source of food is yet another variable in the equation. I’ll spare you more examples but I think you get the picture.
During my research I stumbled on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency page that presented a carbon savings calculator complete with research data and a form for entering various data for conversions to CO2 and other greenhouse gas offsets. Taking it further, the calculator outputted equivalencies (you will see these in the app) to make comparisons to something a bit more relatable. The app also links to the calculator so you should go check it out.
About that calculation. Confirming both Strava and the EPA calculator produced the same value. CO2 savings equation is a simple one. Take any ride convert to meters and multiply by a magic number.
meters traveled X 0.00021743 = CO2 kg saved
The multiplier is most definitely an estimate but it provides a good average savings for most commuters. Try it yourself or just use GreenTrax!
I’m offering this app for free with donations in the form of in-app purchases to help with development costs with a sizable portion going to charitable and advocacy organizations that promote healthy commuting.
Thank you for supporting GreenTrax. I hope you find it useful and if you have suggestions or find bugs, reach out on the Support page.
Happy Commuting!
-Brian. ✌🏻