I have recently started riding my bicycle into the city each day for work. The motivation is a mixture of getting fit and saving money.  I am now saving a lot of money on parking and fuel for the car, however it has become apparent that running a bicycle is not free. Basically, all the exercise makes me bloody hungry and people fuel is relatively expensive per unit of energy content compared to car fuel. A week of driving to and from work would use around 15 litres of diesel and cost around $20.

The additional energy spent cycling to work (compared to slothing around) requires the consumption of an additional muesli bar each way plus a banana per day plus a larger serving of the evening meal. All of that extra food also adds up to around $20 per week. So is the car more energy efficient than the human body considering that is pushes 2 tonnes around for the same cost as I can propel a 10kg bicycle? Perhaps.

The greenhouse emissions from the fuel for the car would be 36kg of CO2 per week, whereas the food by comparison emits an estimated 3.2kg of CO2 equivalent including the methane contribution from all the muesli bars which I won’t elaborate on.

So there you go, riding the bike is much better for me and the environment, but still costly. I guess there really is nothing free in life.