I’m a lifelong bike commuter. Throughout grade school, high school, college, and all my occupations, I’ve tried to bike commute as much as possible.

But in my 30s, I started to get knee pain, to the point where biking daily was not a viable option. This led to years of taking the bus or driving, both of which felt like commuter hell. Not only was I not getting the exercise I was used to, but my commute was taking considerably longer in a bus or costing considerably more in a car - both of which felt inefficient. Despite bike fittings and countless physical therapy and chiropractors appointments, I couldn’t get back on the saddle to ride without pain and swelling.

Years into this challenge, a friend of mine told me about an electric bike she bought - and she urged me to get one too. Her pitch was this: it was faster than driving, it’s easier than biking, and you pay nothing for parking.

After sitting on the idea for a while, I decided it was worth a shot. I went to a bike store specializing in electric bikes and test rode a half dozen of them. And though I’m a frugal guy, I ponied up $3000 for a brand new Giant e-bike.

 

5 years after using an electric bike...

I can honestly say it is the best purchase I’ve ever made. My friend was right about the benefits. Compared to my regular bike, because I could get anywhere I wanted to go about 50% faster and with less effort - so my knee stopped screaming at me and I was able to get back to daily bike commuting. I can now comfortably get anywhere within 5 miles of my home in less than 20 minutes, without breaking a sweat.

 

How much impact can an e-bike make?

There are a lot of articles out today about reducing transportation emissions, and most of them are about hybrids vs. plug-in hybrids vs. electric cars. While transitioning to electric vehicles is a huge part of solving the climate change crisis, the first step in reducing transportation emissions - driving less - hasn’t actually changed.

Before you look into which car you should buy to reduce emissions, ask yourself if you can just drive less. My wife and I put about 6,000 miles per year on each of our cars - about half the typical mileage for someone in the U.S. Our first step in cutting our transportation emissions didn’t require buying a new car; it just required driving less. Because our e-bike has an odometer, I know that we’ve put on about 1,000 miles per year on the e-bike - reducing our car emissions by about 8%.

 

Top 5 ways to reduce transportation emissions

According to the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, in 2021, 52% of all trips in the US were less than 3 miles, and 28% were less than 1 mile.1 By tackling trips in this range, we have an opportunity to take a big bite out of our personal carbon footprint and reduce emissions in our own lives.

Consider these top five ways to reduce your transportation emissions.

1. Walk: are you getting your 7,000-10,000 steps per day? If not, is there a short car trip you regularly take that you can replace with walking?

2. Bike, or e-bike: this is my favorite commute option. I skip the hassle of rush hour traffic, get a workout in, and save on gas and parking.

3. Telecommute: for a lot of people, this is an increasingly available option. I still enjoy going into work from time to time to see people face-to-face, but also love the benefits of working from home.

4. Take the bus: I know I talked about how it took so long before, but before I got email on my phone, I probably read 50 books while commuting on a bus.

5. Scooter: For the more adventurous person, a lot of cities are introducing electric scooters, which can often be paired with taking the bus or replacing a short car ride. Super fun to ride - but be safe!

These solutions not only address emissions, they also benefit your health and can save you money too.

 

A Bonus Hack:

Significantly reducing your direct emissions can take time. That’s why Untonne offers plans to reduce emissions equal to 100% of your carbon footprint starting today. While figuring out how to drive less or taking other actions to reduce carbon emissions directly, with Untonne you can start funding projects around the globe today that will make a dramatic difference in reducing emissions immediately.

We offer a Starter, Individual, and Home plans to meet different amounts of emissions based on a person or family's activities. Subscribe, and we will instantly offset your emissions and lower your carbon footprint. Compare our plans here.

 

References:

1. Data are estimated for the Bureau of Transportation Statistics by the Maryland Transportation Institute and Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory at the University of Maryland. The travel statistics are produced from an anonymized national panel of mobile device data from multiple sources.