Cycling News

Cycling more has huge CO2 and cash benefits

Massive carbon and cost savings could be made if commuters switched from four wheels to two, according to new research published today.

Cycling England analysed the carbon commutes of the 6.6 million employees who use cars or buses to travel less than five miles to work, as part of its campaign to promote Bike Week, 16th-24th June.

If each of these target commuters were to cycle during the five working days of Bike Week, they would save over 44,000 tonnes of CO2, pocketing around £61m in the process through economising on fuel and fare costs.

A week’s pedal power would save the equivalent carbon generated by more than 102 million kWh of electricity.

At the moment, 78 per cent of all commuters drive or are driven to work, generating a weekly CO2 footprint of more than 341,000 tonnes. However, Cycling England predicts that more “carbon-conscious commuters” will begin to consider cycling to work. 600,000 people already cycle to work, saving a weekly tally of almost 5,250 tonnes of CO2.

More than 6.6 million people make work-based journeys of under five miles, and these short-distance commuters are the target for the government organisation’s new campaign, as their journeys could most easily be switched from car/bus to bicycle, saving them almost £500 a year in the process.

Phillip Darnton, chairman of Cycling England said:

“This research gives a new meaning to the phrase 'pedal power'. The bicycle might be a fairly low tech piece of equipment, but more and more people are beginning to see it as a highly efficient, low carbon means of getting around. Many companies are already beginning to encourage their employees to ride in, to drive down their corporate carbon footprint, and Cycling England believes that this trend will gather momentum through the coming years.”

Cycling England is using Bike Week to encourage more people to get pedalling to work and not just for seven days. Their findings show that commuters can significantly reduce their carbon footprint by cycling to work for good. If half of Cycling England’s target commuters were to cycle to work for the rest of the summer for example, a total 353,400 tonnes of carbon dioxide could be saved.

The Cycling England research was conducted in June 2007 by BRE, using a variety of sources, including the National Travel Survey 2005; Regional Transport Statistics 2006; UK Energy Research Centre; Road Traffic Statistics 2005 and the Regional Snapshot: Labour, Sub-regional; Labour market 2005/6 produced for the Office of National Statistics

Cycling England is an independent, expert body funded by the Department for Transport and backed by key Government departments and cycling organisations that is promoting the growth of cycling in England through championing best practice and funding cycle training, marketing and engineering projects.

http://www.bikeweek.org.uk

Published Tuesday 19 June 2007