grace565•1mo agoProlific Poster

The moment I realized my 'eco-friendly' commute wasn't

I was bragging to my neighbor about biking to work every day, thinking I was Mr. Green. But then I did the math on my electric bike's battery charging, and found out I was pulling 12 kWh per month from coal-heavy grid in West Virginia. It hit me that I was just swapping gas emissions for coal emissions and not really fixing anything. Anyone else ever realize a habit they thought was green was actually just a different shade of dirty?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_cora1mo ago

12 kWh a month is really not much, that's like running a small space heater for a few hours total. Did you factor in how much grid power it takes to refine the gas for a car versus that tiny battery drain?

rosejackson1mo ago

Yeah I saw a study recently that said ebikes are still way better than cars even with a dirty grid. Something like 90% less emissions per mile. So you're probably still ahead of the game compared to driving. Plus your local air quality is better since you're not burning gas right there on the street.