User:Brylie/Bicycling Incentives and Carbon Reduction

=Abstract= This paper is an exploration of several incentives related to bicycle commuting. The incentives include environmental, financial, and improved health. The research is based on several peer reviewed studies relating to the impact of bicycle transit as it compares to other transportation modalities. The research established reasonable limits on bicycle commuting distances at approximately 12 kilometers (Yazid, et. al 2012), and so statistics are based on trips within this range. In addition to the carbon cost, health factors are determined to improve after regular bike usage, with proper precautions.

=Introduction= The purpose of this research is to determine the potential carbon offset and incentives for bicycle commuting. Our primary means of commuting, the automobile, has significant costs in terms of CO2 emissions, societal infrastructure requirements, promoting lethargic behavior, and financial obligation. While not a panacea, commuting via bicycle can reduce or eliminate carbon emissions, reduce the required support infrastructure, encourage active health and cardiovascular exercise, and reduce financial burdens such as petroleum costs, maintenance, etc.. The aim of this research endeavor is to quantify more precisely the benefits of bicycle commuting.

=Methods= Several peer reviewed studies have been conducted on the benefits and hazards of bicycle commuting. Selected research papers came from open access, peer-reviewed scientific literature and publicly funded research projects. Open Access journals are key to the sustainability of this research as they are universally accessible meaning they can be verified by anyone, for any reason, without prohibitive technological obstruction.

Grams per Pound
The National Institute of Standards and Technology describes an Avoirdupois Pound as being approximately equal to 4,536 Grams (National Institute of Standards and Technology 2013).

Grams CO2 per gallon of gas
8,887 grams of CO2 are emitted per gallon of gasoline burned (Environmental Protection Agency 2011).

US Population
The US population in 2012 was 313,914,040 (US Census 2012).

US population percentage licensed drivers
As of 2011, the Federal Highway Administration suggests that 65% of United States residents are licensed drivers (United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration 2011).

US annual driver miles
The Federal Highway Administration estimated that in 2011 the average licensed driver traveled 14,000 vehicle miles (United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration 2011).

Us annual driver miles percent local
23% of all driver miles are accumulated for local trips, defined as trips of between one and nine miles (United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration 2011.

US fleet average fuel economy
Comparing 1,143 internal combustion vehicle models, the average combined fuel economy for 2012 model vehicles is 21.5 Miles Per Gallon (US Department of Energy 2012).

Global adult human biomass
The global adult biomass, i.e. the combined mass of all adult humans on Earth, is 287,000,000 metric tonnes (Walpole 2012).

Equations
The following equations were used to calculate values used in this research.

Tonne to Tons
Some of the research data was described in terms of metric tons. It was necessary to adjust the figures into tons, as these were the primary units of interest in this report.

$$Ton Multiplier = Tonnes * 1.10231$$

Additionally, it will be necessary to calculate the number of tons based on pounds.

$$Ton = 2,000$$

CO2 pounds per gallon of gas
A baseline value was necessary to calculate subsequent carbon emissions. This value was derived by EPA estimates of grams CO2 per gallon of gasoline burned. The grams were converted to pounds.

$$CO_2 Pounds Per Gallon Gas = \frac{Grams CO_2 Per Gallon Gas}{Grams Per Pound}$$

CO2 pounds per driver mile
It was desirable to calculate how many pounds of CO2 are released into the atmosphere per mile driven.

$$CO_2 Pounds Per Driver Mile = \frac{CO_2 Pounds Per Gallon Gas}{US Fleet Average Fuel Economy}$$

United States number of licensed drivers
To calculate gross carbon emissions, miles driven, etc., it was necessary to estimate the number of drivers in the United States.

$$US Number Of Licensed Drivers = US Population * US Percentage Licensed Drivers$$

US annual driver miles local
The feasibility of bicycle commuting is premised on short distance (8-12 kilometer) trips. To estimate the potential impact of bicycle commuting, it was necessary to calculate the annual number of local miles driven.

$$US Annual Driver Miles Local = US Annual Driver Miles * US Annual Driver Miles Percent Local$$

US annual driver CO2 emissions local
Next, it was desirable to estimate the total annual CO2 emissions from individual drivers in the United States for local trips (between one and nine miles).

$$US Annual Driver CO_2 Emissions Local = US Annual Driver Miles Local * CO_2 Pounds Per Gallon Gas$$

US annual driver CO2 emissions total pounds
Annual local driver emissions were multiplied by the total number of licensed drivers to calculate the total pounds of annual CO2 emissions generated by local trips.

$$US Annual Driver CO_2 Emissions Total Pounds = US Number Of Licensed Drivers * US Annual Driver CO_2 Emissions Local$$

US annual driver CO2 emissions total tons
$$US Annual Driver CO_2 Emissions Total Tons = US Annual Driver CO_2 Emissions Total Pounds / Ton$$

Global adult human biomass in tons
It was necessary to convert the figure for global human biomass from metric tonnes to tons.

$$Global Adult Human Biomass Tons = Global Adult Human Biomass Metric Tonnes * Ton Multiplier$$

Tons of CO2 human adult biomass equivalent
As an exploration of the figures, the equivalent tons in human biomass were calculated. This figure gives a comparison of US CO2 emissions in tons with the global adult biomass measured in tons.

$$Number Of Global Adult Populations Equivalent = \frac{US Annual Driver CO_2 Emissions Total Tons}{Global Adult Human Biomass Tons}$$

=Results= Commuting short distances, one to nine miles, can drastically reduce our global CO2 output.

CO2 pounds per gallon of gas
For every pound of gasoline combusted, approximately 19.6 pounds of CO2 are released into the atmosphere.

United States number of licensed drivers
There are 213,461,547 licensed drivers in the United States.

US Annual Driver Miles Local
The average US licensed driver travels 3,220 miles annually in trips of short distance, defined as trips between one and nine miles.

US annual local driver CO2 emissions in pounds
The average US driver produces 63,087 Lbs of CO2 emissions annually on local trips.

US annual local driver CO2 emissions in tons
The estimated annual amount of CO2 released into our atmosphere by US drivers on short commutes comes to 6,733,295,325 tons.

Tons of CO2 human adult biomass equivalent
Drivers in the United States alone emit enough tons of CO2 to equal the mass of 21 global human adult populations. In other words, United States drivers produce the same weight in CO2 as would be found if the earth had 21 times as many adult inhabitants.

=Discussion= Riding a bicycle for any distance has a minimal impact on the environment when compared with CO2 emissions per passenger mile of petroleum vehicles, which come out to be approximately 1 Lb per driving mile. Lower carbon emissions contributes to enhanced living conditions in local communities, as well as a lower global carbon ratio (measured in parts per million).

Riding a bicycle as a means of daily commute is a realistic option in communities with supporting infrastructure, and which are designed with nearby centers of activity. Bicycle commuting may not be as effective in areas where suburban development has placed great distance between peoples' homes and workplaces or other desirable destinations.

Designing communities to promote and facilitate commuting via bicycle has many benefits. Riders experience health benefits by getting regular cardio-vascular excercise while going about their daily lives.

Incentives
In order to motivate the widespread use of bicycles, it is necessary to educate people on several benefits and potential dangers of bicycling.

Financial
Financial benefits are significant when comparing bicycling to the cost of owning and operating a personal internal combustion vehicle. By replacing only half of short duration trips, a population of approximately 2 million people could save as much as $3.8 billion dollars, while the combined savings from improved health and increased air quality could exceed $8.7 billion annually (Grabow 2012).

Health
Inactivity due to passive forms of transformation adversely affects health, while replacing short car trips with bicycle commutes has been shown to significantly improve health (Grabow 2012).

Safety
Safety and training is an essential activity to reduce the dangerous effects of bicycle commuting. Training riders on the proper use of helmets has been demonstrated to lower the number of significant injuries that riders experienced. Wearing helmets reduces by 85% the liklihood of a rider expencing traumatic head injury in an accident (Thompson 1989).

=Conclusion= People in the United States, driving short trips, emit enough tons CO2 into the atmosphere to outweigh the mass of the entire human population seventeen times. Biking instead of driving, for short trips, can drastically reduce the amount of CO2 that we release into the atmosphere.

=Citations= Environmental Protection Agency. 2011. Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle. http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/documents/420f11041.pdf

Grabow, M., Spak, S., Holloway, T., Stone, B., Mednick, A., and Patz, J. Environ Health Perspect. 2012 January; 120(1): 68–76. Air Quality and Exercise-Related Health Benefits from Reduced Car Travel in the Midwestern United States. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3261937/

National Institute of Standards and Technology. 2013. Factors for units listed by kind of quantity or field of science: MASS and MOMENT OF INERTIA. http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB9.html#MASSinertia

Thompson, R. Rivara, F, and Thompson, D. 1989. N Engl J Med:320:1361-1367. A Case-Control Study of the Effectiveness of Bicycle Safety Helmets. http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM198905253202101

United States Census Bureau. 2012. Motor Vehicle Accidents -- Number and Deaths. https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1103.xls

United States Census Bureau. 2012. Population Estimates. http://www.census.gov/popest/data/national/totals/2012/index.html

United States Department of Energy. 2012. 2012 Fuel Economy Datafile. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/download.shtml

United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration 2011. Our Nation's Highways: 2011. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/pubs/hf/pl11028/chapter4.cfm

Walpole, S, Prieto-Merino, D., Edwards, P., Clelend, J., Stevens, G., and Roberts, I. 2012. The weight of nations: an estimation of adult human biomass. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/439/abstract

Yazid, M. Ismail, R. Atiq, R. Rahmat, O. and Nazri, M. 2012. City Residence Prepare Towards Implementation Local Lane of Non Motorized. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, 4(05): 481-485. http://maxwellsci.com/print/rjaset/v4-481-485.pdf

Zhu, T. Aaland, M. Kerrigan, C. Schiebel, R. Henry, H. and Hollister, L. 2011. Preventable head and facial injuries by providing free bicycle helmets and education to preschool children in a head start program. http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperDownload.aspx?DOI=10.4236/health.2011.311116

=Sourcecode= This soucecode was used in R Studio to calculate values used in this report.