Climate notes for September 2024

I note below a story outlining the numbers and stats about providing e-bike subsidies as a better route for the climate, people and transport in general. This is assumed to be instead of EV car subsidies, or anything else.

And I tend to agree. As the former chair of the Irish EV Association, I've been tied to EVs for many years now. Both as a driver and an advocate. But make no mistake, while every vehicle on the road needs to have zero emissions, and the infrastructure to get them on the road likewise needs to have zero emissions (through solar, wind and other sustainable generation), but the best way to get around is by bike. Especially in an urban area.

Here's my normal daily routine: get the kids ready and drive them in my family SUV EV (a Tesla Model Y, thanks for asking) to crèche. Which is approximately a 10min drive, but would wind up being an hour-long walk if I opted to do that with a 4 year old and 2 year old. Which is to say, we will always drive them. I tend to charge the car on low cost overnight charging rates or, primarily, during the day off of excess from solar PV on the house. The cost of living with this car is insanely low... if you ignore the value lost to Elon's shitty decision making. I then drive home solo in an empty car. Then I get my bike and cycle to work on my e-bike (a Van Moof S3, thanks again).

If I were to drive to the office from crèche it would probably be slightly easier as there's less faffing. But it would take about 40mins to drive into the office. Whereas the cycle takes about 15. I'm cutting a serious amount of time out of the commute. And while people tend to worry about traffic being dangerous, and rightly so, I tend to find it fine because in the morning or early evening when I cycle around Dublin city, the cars are barely moving anyway.

The other thing about this, which is really important to note, is that my life is much better as a result of the exercise. Legitimately, I am going to live longer just because I cycle to work on an electric bike.

And I use an electric bike because as I hit the tender age of 40, my ability to cycle hard hammers my already bad knees. So I'm giving my body some grace. And not having to deal with Glasnevin hill (fka Washerwoman hill) which is great in the morning going downhill, but torture in the evening going back home.

My bike cost a few thousand euro a few years ago. It's still a dream to ride. It's easy to repair (thankfully none of the electronics have gone on it) and tends to just work. But I got no help in buying it because the bike came from a Dutch company, so it didn't qualify for Bike2Work. But there also wasn't any subsidy to help absorb the cost. Which is a choice I made myself, but others should be given far more encouragement to get on a bike.

And I acknowledge the bike is one element to this. Infrastructure, proper policing on the roads and a change of driving culture (in Dublin, anyway) is critical. But every year I am encouraged by the volume of cyclists hitting the streets. Far more now than ever before.

Tabs

Meta

Published on: 3rd September, 2024

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