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Environmentally Friendly and Improved Bottom Line

//5 Comments

Every day that I ride my bike to work…I have time to ponder a few things that we all think about at one point or another. In addition to a “small” contribution to the environment, how much money am I really saving by riding my bike to work? I’m not factoring the investments of getting proper equipment, but just the monthly cash flow.

Do the math: I ride 9 miles to and from work. So 18 miles round trip. That’s at least one gallon of gas burned, in most cars, especially if you take into account stop and go “city” traffic.
That’s $4-5 per day, or for the sake of conversation, $15 per week (if I ride 3x). That’s $60 savings per month and so on…$720 per year…

Another question I often think about… Is buying a latte every morning draining my bank account? Let’s do some more quick math. On average, a coffee drink costs $3. If I indulge 5x a week, that’s another $60 per month. Now it get’s interesting. Add a pastry to the equation for $2 a day...and I’m looking at $100 per month… $1200 per year… not to mention I’ll throw away somewhere in the neighborhood of 240 coffee cups, lids and sleeves. Yes, I’m guilty… why don’t we all use the thermal cups????

These little expenditures add up… almost $2k per year. If I invested the same 2k every year for 10 years, at 5% interest, I would have nearly $30k in the bank. Not bad. What if I managed to get 8% return on my investment? Nearly 35k saved.

This is the kind of thinking you’ll experience if you hop on the saddle and ride! Enjoy the breeze, save some cash and help the environment!!!

Cody Rasmussen

author// Cody Rasmussen on May 23, 2008

tags// Random Rants

Comments

comment// Geoffrey Smith

date// May 26th, 2008

It’s pretty crazy when you start adding it all up. I moved three blocks from work on purpose: I can sleep in, walk to work in 5 minutes and take 20 minute naps during lunch. These aren’t frivolous indulgences, they improve my life immensely! Since I only drive on the weekends (if at all) I couldn’t care less how much a gallon of gas costs. If you ask me it should be more than a gallon of spring water at the very least. Either way I have more money in the bank.

comment// Cody Rasmussen

date// May 27th, 2008

You are lucky. I was ironically “driving” to go mountain biking last weekend and happened down a rural road 25 or so miles outside of Seattle. There were hundreds of homes in little cul de sacs. They all looked so cookie cutter. What amazes me is that many homes had large SUV style cars and trucks parked out front. Many of these people will sit in traffic for over an hour to get to and from Seattle. It’s a problem in America… bigger homes = happiness. This simple idea contributes to the problem. More gas consumption… How do we slow the sprawl?  I don’t really know, but, clean cities, effective public transportation, roadway tolls, and battery powered cars would help! On that note.... battery cell technology has had major breakthroughs recently. Check out this company. http://www.teslamotors.com/ This is good news. Where will we get the energy to keep the new batteries charged? Maybe we should think about building new nuclear power plants in the USA and stop worrying about where we’ll get our next barrel of oil. http://www.world-nuclear.org/why/default.aspx

comment// Cody Rasmussen

date// May 27th, 2008

You might notice the hefty price tag ($109k+) on that great electric car from Tesla. Not to undermine a company that is creating a great product, but hopefully they will make it a priority to bring an affordable option to the public. It doesn’t benefit anyone if this car sits in Jay Lenno’s garage collecting dust. If we have the technology, it should be available for everyone (for the environments sake). I suppose that only time will tell.

comment// Lorie Ransom

date// May 28th, 2008

When gas prices crept past the $4 mark, I looked into what it would take to ride the bus to work. I found a great tool on the King County metro site that helps you calculate the money you will save by riding the bus instead of driving. http://transit.metrokc.gov/oltools/calculator.html

The notion of living close to work is a great one if both halves of a couple work in the same area. Unfortunately, my better half works on the upper east side which is why we bought a house on the north end of Lake Washington. We had previously been renting on Queen Anne and his commute across the 520 bridge took between 1 and 2 hours each way. While we do enjoy more square footage living in a suburb, quality of life was the greater issue.

Although we love our house, we miss the vibrancy of urban living and I believe if King County offered better public transportation, we would still be living in the city. I am hoping the pressure of rising gas prices helps spur the development of better public transit. Right now I have to decide if an $80 savings is worth getting up at 5 am, three transfers and a half mile walk (usually in the rain) every day.

comment// David

date// May 29th, 2008

For me the financial reasons were the best reasons to bid my car farewell. My calculations included a car payment, and added up to $600 per month savings that I enjoy year-round. That buys more than enough bike parts, tires and rain jackets with plenty leftover for other important things.

There are a lot of costs that we often forget when adding up the cost of driving. Consider:
- Car payment (that’s the big one, if you have one)
- Gas (getting bigger)
- Insurance
- Oil changes, Tires & Scheduled Maintenance
- Parking
- Parking tickets

This doesn’t consider the cost of taxes we pay to support a HUGE fuel infrastructure, highway patrol, freeway building, pollution control, waste disposal, etc. That is a bigger discussion, but I assure you, the costs are HUGE and we all pay them, whether we drive or not*. Suffice it to say that the expense of a mile of 4-lane freeway could support about 80 miles of bike lane! There isn’t room enough here to discuss the social, health and environmental problems caused by a nation that lives in the suburbs - and no fault to the people who live there. That’s the layout we’re stuck with after 100 years of government (taxpayer) subsidized, cheap fuel and a poor understanding of the effects of sprawling homes and de-centralized living. In the 1950s, when the ‘burbs were really exploding, who knew anything about global warming or OPEC oil? And who wouldn’t want a little slice of idyllic country living? Unfortunately, we know better now, but we keep building those cookie cutter homes out of town with zoning laws that forbid corner stores and basic services- and how idyllic are they, really? Worst of both worlds to me. If you’re going to pack me in that tight, at least give me a coffee shop or grocer on the corner. If you’re moving me that far from the benefits of the city, give me a view, or a truly rural experience. Cul de sac? Lose-lose.

My point is that Cody’s savings of $2k per year are great - but modest. If you are making a car payment, like I was - you could save over $7k per year. For me that is enough to afford a house payment which was previously out of reach. Now I’m investing in a house instead of renting. Add that in and the numbers look pretty good. Good enough to make it worth riding in the rain once or twice a week (it’s not so bad anyway).

I highly recommend “Divorce Your Car” by Katie Alvord.

For a shocking and very interesting look at how our nation’s landscape has been shaped by the automobile, look into “The Geography of Nowhere” by Howard Kunstler.

* We will always need roads, and I am thankful for police, fire and ambulance services. I don’t begrudge paying taxes for those.

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