Tally Time

OK, I've been eating vegetarian since July and bicycle commuting for nearly two months. Thought it would be a good idea to do a tally of my energy/cost/CO2 savings to see the total impact ONE person making MINOR changes can have...

First - some of the base numbers:

• my bicycle commute to work is 14mi round-trip
• I've commuted 36 of 40 possible days for a total of 403 miles (adding in grocery runs, etc.)
• my car gets about 22mpg in the city
• gas averaged about $3.50/gal during this period
• cheap downtown parking costs me $3.50/day

I've saved over 18 gallons of gas and reduced my CO2 emissions by 332 pounds (11.5lb/day)

I've saved $217 in gas and parking.

I burn an extra 336 calories per day by bicycle commuting to work.

On the vegetarian side there are additional savings...

The production of food for the average vegetarian (not vegan: I eat eggs, dairy and some fish) emits 7.3lb/day LESS in greenhouse gases versus an omnivore. That results in an extra 800lbs of reduced CO2 emissions since July.


I wanted to see what this meant FOR ME on an annual basis, so I did a little more math with the assumption that I keep going:
>> 120 gallons of gas saved
>> $1,340 saved in gas and parking
>> 2000lb (1 TON) of reduced CO2 from bicycle commuting
>> 2665lb of reduced CO2 from eating vegetarian
>> 2500 miles bicycle commuting and 75,000 calories burned!

That is some good motivation...