The advantages of cycling

The advantages of cycling
Why do so many people feel it necessary to acquire cars in the many parts of the affluent world where there are good public transport systems?  Even though the public transport networks are good in these regions, they could be so much better were it not for the congestion caused by far too many cars on the road!
For many the car is regarded as a necessity for both social and work demands and they would think that giving up the car would greatly diminish their quality of life.  The hope is that the following suggestions will prompt a rethink.

Whilst poverty and hunger are major causes of ill health for most people in the world, in the rich countries an increasing number of health problems are related to lack of exercise, over eating, drinking excessive alcohol and the over-use of both proscriptive and prescriptive drugs.  These are often refered to the ‘diseases of affluence’ but are also even more common amongst the poorer sections of the affluent society and often related to pollution and a poor diet coupled with lack of exercise.
Most people in the West have come to regard the car as a basic necessity.  Families without cars are now considered to be poor. Sadly this mentality is now spreading to many so called developing countries, especially in South East Asia, thus making transport a growing cause of respiratory health problems and global warming.
For example air pollution in Beijing has reached a crisis level (2015) .
It is hard to understand this love affair with the car given the stress, health problems, pollution, accidents and congestion it causes.  Yes it is often convenient, especially during inclement weather, but do the advantages of car travel outweigh the disadvantages, which include the initial purchase and running costs?   Has the car now become an extension of the home, like a new summerhouse, rather than just a means of getting around?

Congestion, pollution, fatal and serious accidents, environmental and aesthetic degradation are reasons enough to abandon cars as a means of transport, but to these must now be added new direct and indirect links car transport has to ill health, especially of children, and global warming.

For a very small number of people the car may be legitimately be regarded as a necessity.  However, the purpose of this web site is to urge most people, especially young people, to rethink their attitude towards transport and consider the role cycling has in improving health and reducing pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.

Cycling is good for your health and your pocket and the greater the number of people who give up their cars, or decide not to own one in the first place, the safer will be roads for cycling on and the greater the focus on providing safe routes for cyclists.   Also, public transport will become more economically viable and general efficiency will increase for those who must use vehicles for their business activities. Holiday and leisure facilities will become more pleasureable without the environment being spoilt by the presense of large numbers of cars.   Traffic congestion will also be reduced.

Cycling is good for your health
Most able bodied people should be able to use a bike for most journeys under 5 miles (Most car journeys are under 5 miles). Among the likely benefits of regular cycling are:

• The chances of getting a heart disease are likely to be cut by a half
• The likelihood of getting strokes, diabetes and some kinds of cancer will be reduced
• Improvement in general health
• Reduces the cost of travel.  In the UK alone 72% of all journeys are made by car of which 59% are less than 5 miles in length.  These shorter journeys are the most polluting ones and could be very easily shifted to cycling, public transport or walking.
• Bicycles occupy less road space than motor vehicles per person and increase the efficiency of existing roads.
• Bicycles offer door-to-door mobility and you are not constrained by public transport timetables.
• Bicycles can be obtained at reasonable cost, are reliable and economical to operate
• Cycling is a low-cost alternative transport option for people below driving age or without a car, especially in outer metropolitan areas and rural towns.
• Cycling is much faster than walking and, in congested urban areas, is as quick (or quicker) for short journeys as other forms of transport.
• About 16 bicycles can be parked in the space required for one car. Bicycles occupy less road space than motor vehicles per person and increase the efficiency of existing roads, while reducing wear and tear of road surfaces.
• Increased bicycle use by school children would result in savings in school transportation .
• Reduces stress and helps reduce weight.  The prevalence of obesity in England has tripled over the last 20 years and continues to rise. Most adults in England are now overweight, and one in five is obese. Nearly two thirds of men and over half of women in England are now overweight or obese.   And the problem in the UK is increasing faster than in most other European countries.   [  About 40% of older youths were overweight in 2015 ].  One third of the world’s population and are now overweight. One billion people in developed countries are obese.  This will significantly increase the incidence of associated diseases, such as coronary heart disease and diabetes.  Less than 50% of Americans get any real exercise, and less than 10% get enough.
• Surprisingly a person in a car will breath in more exhaust pollutants than someone riding a bike in the same situation.
• Can increase alertness and reduce tiredness at work.
• Cyclists are a considerable boon to other road users, but do motorists appreciate how little space cyclists take up on the road as opposed to a car?
  

Cycling can help make you feel good about yourself
Consider for a moment how much better you would feel arriving at the office after an invigorating morning bike ride, rather than a rushed and busy trip through morning traffic.  Or how about at the end of your busy work day, letting all of your stress melt away as you take a leisurely ride home on your bicycle, avoiding the even more stressful rush hour traffic?  It is likely that your trip home wouldn’t take much more time than traveling by car.  Also consider how much time you’ll save by not having to spend so much of it at the health club.  You may even decide to save some money and not sign up for membership during your cycling months.

If the money saving aspect is not all that important to you, consider the environmental benefits.  Bicycling is very environmentally friendly, and you’d be making a measurable contribution to its preservation.  It takes a great deal less of our planet’s resources to build a bicycle than it does to build and maintain a car.  Cyclists do not pollute the air with toxic gases or leak dangerous oil and antifreeze into the earth.  They also do not contribute to the growing problem of grid lock and noise pollution the UK is facing.   And just think how much friendlier people would be to one another if they were all on bicycles.  Think of how much less road rage there would be!

Cycling does not require so much exertion as jogging and can be carried on well into old age.

This may be too obvious to mention, but cycling will save you a lot of money.  The savings from swapping the car, bus or train for a bicycle are considerable.

Cycling can increase efficiency and profits for employers
Employers should consider the benefits they can gain by promoting bicycling, too.  Employees over-all health improves, the number of sick days that your company pays for are likely to decline (and if your employees do get sick, they’ll recover faster).  Medical costs decrease, your employees feel better (physically and emotionally), and they’ll be more effective and happier at their jobs.
Obesity accounts for about 18 million days of sickness absence each year and 30,000 premature deaths.  On average, each person whose death could be attributed to obesity lost nine years of life.  Treating obesity costs the NHS at least 4 billion a year (2011).  The total cost to the UK economy is estimated at £47 bil per year.  Two bil people in the world are overweight and this is likely to increase to a half by 2030.

Problems for cyclists
For some people the decision to abandon the car in favour of a bike requires some courage.  Probably the greatest disincentive to cycling is fear of accidents caused by motorised traffic.  Lack of consideration and yobbish behaviour on the part some people travelling by car towards cyclists can also be a problem.  However, it must also be said that the behaviour of some cyclists (like night riding without lights and inconsiderate behaviour towards pedestrians) can give cyclists a bad name.
There would appear to be a stong case for promoting the use of the bicycle as the primary means of transport for most journeys made across the world and provide more safe cycling routes in urban areas.

If you have ever struggled from a supermarket or city centre with a heavy load of groceries on each arm you might consider how much easier it might have been to carry the same load on a bike.  The picture on the left shows just how many items can be carried with ease on a bicycle – which can be wheeled around with you as you move from one shop to another.

If you think that using a bike for shopping might be time-consuming, then stop to consider the number of times you spent half an hour or more looking for a parking space and then several minutes to find the ticket machine and take the ticket back to your car.

With increasing concerns about global warming and the growing numbers of people with diseases related to obesity and lack of exercise, does it not make sense to use a bicycle for getting around whenever possible?

Waste and energy

Energy saving and waste reduction
Although the following suggestions relate to the UK, the general principles behind them can be applied anywhere in developed countries.

Many quite simple actions can result in considerable savings. Penney Poyzer, in her book ‘No Waste Like Home’, suggests that the average family in the UK wastes £430 worth of food every year.  Another  £200 is spent on wasted energy.

This amounts to a staggering £9 bil that Britons waste on the unnecessary use of energy and good food thrown away every year.

Sadly this waste increases economic growth, but who pays the price!!

These are not the only causes of waste in the home.  If all the possible savings are added up for the average family, these could amount to as much as £4,000 each year – £60 bil for the UK as a whole.  On average people throw away 7 times their own body weight each year.

All of this waste does of course add to global warming.  In 50 years time, as a result of rising temperatures, UN scientists estimate that there will be 10,000 more cases of food poisoning, 5,000 more deaths from skin cancer and 2,000 more cataract operations each year in Britain.  Note that this is in addition to the fears that many scientists predict about the effects of global warming which include the possibility of an ice age developing in northern Europe as a result of the Gulf Stream being effectively ‘cut-off’ – an outcome of melting ice in the Arctic.

When we look at some basic statistics, the role we can play in reducing waste and helping the environment can seem obvious.  All we need is the will to make the necessary response.  Each year in Britain:

• 17 bil plastic carrier bags were given away by supermarkets (290 bags for every person).  In December 2015 the government brought in legislation that requires a charge to be made when plastic bags are issued.  This is likely to reduce this wasted dramatically.
  
• 400,000 tonnes of disposable nappies were used (8 mil nappies are thrown away every day).
• the average family throws away 208 Kg of paper
• only 17% of waste is recycled and waste is increasing at the rate of 3% each year
• £5 bil worth of energy is wasted (Note that within the next 20 years Britain is expected to be importing 80% of gas)
• £1.2 bil is spent on running fridges and freezers
• the health impact of traffic pollution amounts to £11 bil (85 % of households in rural areas have at least one car – 70% in urban areas)

The cost of managing household waste is £1.6 bil and this is expected to rise to £3.2 bil by 2020.  Of the 7,000 incinerators, 12 burn municipal waste.
20% of what comes through the letterbox is never opened and 60% is never read.

What can be done?
Here are some suggestions:

• Switch to an energy supplier such as Good Energy  which supplies 100% renewable energy from sun, wind and rain.  It sources from independent generators across the country and it has its own wind farms at Delabole, North Cornwall and Hampole near Doncaster.   It also has solar farms at Creathorne Farm near Poundstock, North Cornwall, Crossroads in Dorset and Rook Wood in Wiltshire.  It supplies to 55,000 electricity customers and 28,000 gas customers and supports over 93,500 homes, businesses and communities generating their own electricity.  Good Energy also operates the feed- in tariff scheme for those with installed solar panels.
  More information about energy-saving.
• Replace all light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs
• Switch off computers and television when not in use instead of leaving on stand-by.
• Put an insulation jacket around the hot water tank and lagging around hot water pipes.
• Install 250 mm thickness of loft insulation between ceiling joists.
• Install cavity wall insulation.
• Lay fitted carpets over floor boards.
• Replace single glazed windows with double glazing. For windows with wooden frames a relatively cheap way of doing this is to use double glazing units rather than go to the cost of replacing the glass and the frames.
• Eliminate draughts around window frames and doors.
• Turn the thermostat down 1deg C.  This could save 10% of the cost of running the central heating.
• Remove furniture away from radiators and place aluminium foil behind the radiators.
• Use a gravity shower connection connected to the bath taps instead of a power shower.  Limit your shower to 5 minutes.
• Use heavy curtains with a thermal lining.
• Use a ‘green’ electricity supplier who sources electricity from renewable energy.
• Use energy efficient appliances (A to G rating) – ‘A’ rating is the most efficient. Look out for the blue and orange logo.
• Use a ‘Sava Plug’ to connect fridges and freezers (350 watt max) to siocket outlets.  Make sure there is proper seal around the doors and defrost when ice builds up.
• Using a 40 deg C wash rather than 60 deg C will save a third of the amount of electricity used by a washing machine.
• Put lids on cooking pans.
• Run the water from shed roofs into water butts and use for watering the garden.
• Get a plumber to stop all drips from taps and overflows.  If you are on a meter you may be surprised at the increase in your water bill if you don’t.
• Install a two-flush toilet cistern.  35% of water is used flushing the toilet and this simple action will reduce the amount of water used in each flush by about a third.
• Take a shower instead of a bath but limit it to 5 mins.
• Wait until you have a large load before washing clothes. This will also save electricity.
• Use re-usable terry nappies instead of disposable ones.
• Put disposable nappies, tampons, sanitary towels, cotton buds, condoms and cigarettes in the bin, not the toilet, otherwise these may cause blockages in the sewerage system. 
• Recycle all tins, bottles, paper and clothes.
• Compost most uncooked kitchen and garden waste but dont include cat litter, dog faeces, disposable nappies, diseased plants, meat. fish and cooked food.  Try and get a balance of organic material and fibrous material like straw, wood shavings, dried leaves and shredded twigs.
• Buy vegetables loose and not pre- packed.  If you can, avoid shopping at supermarkets.
• Use reclaimed timber where possible.  This might be superior in some ways for outdoor uses and will usually be cheaper than the equivalent bought at a timber merchants or DIY store.
• If you possibly can, do not have a car or large motorcycle of your own for transport, but instead walk or use a bicycle and public transport.
• If you do own a car then keep it regularly serviced. Keep tyres properly inflated at the correct pressure (under-inflated tyres acn increase fuel use by about 8%).  Driving at 50 mph instead of 70 mph is likley tol use 25% less fuel.
• Take your holidays close to home and avoid long distance travel by air.

Energy saving and carbon reduction

Energy saving and carbon reduction

Most energy is derived from fossil fuels and hence any personal savings in the use of energy will reduce carbon emmissions.
Two methods of representing proportional household emissions in the UK are shown in the following charts:

The figures shown are for 2006 when the average per capita emmission was 11.6 tonnes, half of which was from direct personal emmissions – air travel 34%; household heating 26%; car use 19%; Household electricity 16%; other transport use 5%.
Emmisssions outside the household but related to househjold activities – Manufacturing and construction 40%; personal travel 29%; housing 20%; services 6%; food 5%.

The figures show that 5 tonnes (out of the total of 11.6) are caused by travel and 2.3 tonnes by manufacturing and construction.
Household electricity accounts for about 0.9 tonne and household heating 1.5 tonnes.  Hence the greatest reductions are to be made from reducing travel.   The impact of international air flights can be determined from the CHOOSE CLIMATE CALCULATOR .

The diagram on the left shows the results from the calculator for a return flight from London to Douala (Cameroon) – a distance of 4,995 km.  Note that this resulted in a per capita emission of approximately 3.5 tonnes.
Greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft flying in and out of Britain in 2030 are estimated to then contribute nearly half the UK total.  Aircraft from UK airports alone emitted 9.8 million tonnes of carbon in 2005 – equivalent to 36 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

What level of emissions should we be aiming for? Dr Hillman, Senior Fellow Emeritas at the Policy Studies Institute (2010) suggests levels shown in the following table (note that the target for 2005 was not achieved) :

An idea of household and individual annual carbon emissions can also be obtained by measuring gas and energy use in Kw hrs, heating oil in litres and transport in Km then using the following chart:

Do not include miles travelled as a passenger in a car

Another assessment can be made with this CARBON CALCULATOR

Further information can be obtained from the National Energy Foundation

Anyone considering solar heating might find the following links useful:

SOLAR ENERGY

FEED-IN TARIFF

CURRENT FEED-IN TARIFF RATES

There is also information on ENERGY EFFICIENT HOMES and CARBON FOOTPRINTING on the National Energy Foundation web site.