In 2011, a study in Europe concluded that a bicyclist’s use of energy was measured at 16 grams per kilometer (g/km) of CO2, after analysis of the energy expended and the calorific content of food intake.1 In 2015, Volkswagen’s high-efficiency experimental plug-in hybrid prototype car, the XL1, was unveiled. Its parsimonious efficiency meant it could stretch a gallon of diesel to travel 310 miles, a figure equivalent to 21 g/km of CO2 emissions.2 In other words, the two occupants of an XL1 would produce lower carbon emissions than if they had traveled on bicycles. Granted, for the sake of this
...more
