How Green Was My Bicycle?
We bicyclists like to tout our enviro-cred in these days of climate change concern, and there’s no doubt that converting auto trips to bicycle trips does a lot of good. But what about our waste stream? How are we doing when it comes to stuff heading for the landfill?
That’s where we have to start thinking about materials and design, and maybe tell bicycle manufacturers to start thinking about it, too.
Let’s start with the most essential piece of the bicycle: the frame. In the field of waste reduction, the priorities are:
1) Repair – can the frame be repaired if scratched, dented, bent, or broken?
2) Reuse – can the frame tubes be cut apart to be used for something else?
3) Recycle – can the material in the frame be recycled into raw materials for something else (or another frame)?
Cross section of a carbon fiber bicycle frame tube.
Carbon Fiber falls short for all three strategies. Repairing a carbon fiber frame often requires more expertise and time than the frame is actually worth; if it can be repaired at all. Reusing carbon fiber tubes similarly requires the same advanced skills and technology to use them for some other function. Recycling it into its component parts may be feasible in the future, but the environmental and energy ramifications of that are unknown.
Titanium is somewhat better. It’s such a strong metal that it takes a serious crash to damage it. If it is damaged, the frame can be repaired, though it takes a more skilled and knowledgeable craftsman. The same would be said for reuse of the tubing. Like aluminum, titanium can be fully recycled.
Aluminum frames generally cannot be repaired if the metal has been bent. Anyone who has played with an aluminum can knows that just a few bends will make the metal snap. Reuse of the tubing is fairly easy, and we all know aluminum is easily recycled (it actually requires less energy to recycle aluminum than to refine it from ore).
Steel frames are easy to repair with basic equipment and metalworking skills, and equally easy to reuse. And more steel is actually recycled than aluminum.
So next time you’re in the market for a bicycle, ask yourself how important it is to save a few ounces off your bike compared to how much you’ll eventually be sending to the landfill.
For an excellent read on how our waste stream needs to change, pick up Cradle to Cradle, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. It will change the way you look at the world.
Tags: aluminum, bicycles, business, carbon fiber, environment, frames, recycling, steel, titanium
27. April 2009 at 11:13 pm :
You fail to identify the reason Carbon Fiber frames are the most green house gas friendly of all. It is because carbon fiber is a carbon sink! Once assembled into solid carbon fiber strands, carbon is locked into that state until burned.
Frankly, if you want to reduce your carbon footprint to the smallest it could possibly be, don’t exercise. All that high metabolism stuff releases carbon dioxide (The primary greenhouse gas we are worried about.) at very high rates. Not having a bicycle frame produced at all in the first place will be most environmentally safe choice!
To minimize your negative impact on the planet even more, disconnect your home from the electrical grid and sit as still as possible and try not to breathe.
28. April 2009 at 8:05 am :
The amount of carbon in carbon fiber is inconsequential compared to the amount produced by motor vehicles and power plants. Better that excess CO2 go back into the soil so plants can use it.
Carbon dioxide that humans and animals exhale is part of the natural carbon cycle which is driven by the annual solar input. We exhale it and plants absorb it. It’s worked that way since the first animals came on the scene more than a billion years ago.
The CO2 that we exhale was pulled out of the atmosphere by the plants we grew for food over the past few months, while the CO2 coming out of our tailpipes and smokestacks was absorbed by plants over hundreds of millions of years and stored under ground. We are releasing all that CO2 over a geological blink of an eye; a few centuries.
It’s true that households generate more CO2 than transportation does, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t also cut our transportation outputs. Transportation accounts for about a third of greenhouse gas emissions.
28. April 2009 at 8:24 am :
Not sure if the process has changed by building CF frames involves some very nasty chemicals.
I much prefer the ancient steel frames (and the more modern ones) I accumulate bicycles. People give them to me, I find them in the trash, in the ditches along the roads, etc. Ones that can be rehabbed are, ones that cannot are dismantled and sorted for recycling. I even have a deal with the local tire dealer to toss my scrap tires on his pile to be ground up for whatever they grind tires up for these days. Based on total carbon foot print including production steel probably the most friendly.
Aaron
28. April 2009 at 9:57 am :
Good points 2whls3spds. I only addressed the outputs/”end-of-life” side of the problem. The manufacturing process is just as important.
I also should have mentioned bamboo frames. ;^)
I highly recommend the book “Cradle to Cradle” for an eye-opening look at waste and how we might restructure our design, manufacturing and building systems.
28. April 2009 at 10:04 am :
Carbon fiber is one of those “monstrous hybrids” the Cradle to Cradle authors deplore. When you combine organic elements with inorganic elements you often create materials that don’t break down and can cause serious problems to living systems. CF isn’t nearly as bad as say, dioxin, but it’s still a hybrid, and the authors argue that organic nutrients and “technological nutrients” need to be kept separate.
29. April 2009 at 9:31 am :
I hadn’t thought about bamboo, but have seen the end results. They build beautiful bikes, but from what I have heard and seen they are relatively fragile and can be easily destroyed in a crash that a steel frame would probably shrug off. Also IIRC steel is the most recycled material in the world.
Aaron
17. May 2009 at 8:25 pm :
Titanium is not as great as it is marketed to be. The universal acclaim that it has is that (if the bike is properly fitted) it is the most comfortable and enjoyable ride of all the frame materials.
There are scores of reports about titanium seatposts bending and being irreperable and of stems bending. It seems the biggest problems are the welds on titanium frames and if you don’t have a lifetime guarantee from a manufacturer of titanium, you might be in trouble trying to reweld the frame.
17. May 2009 at 11:34 pm :
And many titanium manufacturers have weight limit recommendations (my remembrance is around 230 to 260lbs) for their frames.
28. May 2009 at 10:25 am :
As I’m fond of saying ‘steel is real’. Another cycling buddy of mine also liked to say that if they wanted to lighten their bicycle frame by a few pounds they’d just lose some weight themselves. Lots cheaper and probably healthier in the long run.
Now when it comes to drive train components…I can see the desire for lighter materials.
28. May 2009 at 11:02 am :
The most important place to shave weight is of course in the wheels; that’s where the rotating weight is, and the farther from the hub you shed the grams the better — spokes, rims, tubes, tires. But the seconds saved get canceled out pretty quickly if you’re spending too much time at the side of the road repairing broken spokes or flat tires.
John Schubert wrote somewhere that his fastest rides have been on his heaviest bike. (But then John has quite a few extra on him; bike weight is probably completely irrelevant for him.)
28. May 2009 at 5:21 pm :
I agree on the body weight vs. bike weight argument. It is important to advance bike and bike weight technology, but in the end if you’re doing anything (to include training) besides actual training your body weight is of great importance and why should people worry about the weight of good lights versus puny lights when actual body weight is more significant and changeable.
1. June 2009 at 6:18 am :
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1. June 2009 at 7:29 am :
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22. June 2009 at 10:46 pm :
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7. September 2009 at 5:27 am :
Very interesting read. i still love to read bicycle articles even though i cannot ride anymore following my accident. thats why now i spend most my time now promoting bicycle safety. Thanks for the great post.
18. March 2010 at 6:31 am :
very informative! thanks!
5. August 2010 at 10:15 am :
thank you for the info!! it really motivates me to ride bicycle again.
20. November 2010 at 1:54 am :
Bicycle is better for health as well as helps us save on fuel consumption, protecting environment.
25. January 2011 at 1:15 pm :
Thanks for doing your part to save the Earth!
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12. April 2011 at 7:41 am :
Riding the bicycle has a lot of benefits. It is not only good for the environment, but also for one’s health. It’s obviously a form of exercise and that is what is lacking when you drive cars. Great post!
19. April 2011 at 2:13 pm :
I learned a lot from this post. The most important thing for me is having a durable bike that could carry my heavy weight and carry me through the routines of weight reduction until the ideal weight is achieved. I prefer steel frame bikes for its price and cheaper maintenance. It’s weight works to my advantage because it requires a few more calories to move than with light-metal frame bikes. I’m not racing anyway. I just wanted to lose weight. That’s all.
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14. May 2011 at 4:01 am :
It’s nice to see blogs who are concerned of the environment. Bicycling is indeed a great way to go green. It’s sad though because in the Philippines, even if you want to ride the bike instead of cars, there are those drivers who act as if they own the road. I guess sometimes safety overtakes the need to save the environment. Sad..
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2. July 2011 at 5:54 am :
Why not opt for a bamboo bicycle instead? It’s the most eco-friendly bike you can get. First, it is made out of a bamboo plant which is a renewable resource that feels a lot like the carbon fiber bicycle frame. The best thing is that disposing it is no problem at all. You can just dig a hole in your backyard and bury it there – and it will just decompose as wood.
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20. July 2011 at 2:52 am :
Thanks for posting this. From the materials mentioned above, I agree steel as the best eco-friendly and feasible material for a bicycle frame. Although it’s a great idea, bamboo is not feasible since it can be destroyed easily during impacts and crashes. Although I would probably want one if I am cycling in our subdivision.
20. July 2011 at 2:54 am :
I would choose steel as the most viable material for a bicycle frame. It can easily be recycled (or even reused) when dented or damaged.
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Propecia
Nom generique: le finasteride (FIH ride steh NAH)
Les noms de marque: Propecia, Proscar
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Qu’est-ce que Propecia?
Propecia empeche la conversion de testosterone en dihydrotestosterone (DHT) dans le corps.
Propecia est utilise pour le traitement de la calvitie sur le sommet et le secteur anterieur de mi-cuir chevelu. Calvitie est une affection frequente dans laquelle les hommes d’experience amincissement des cheveux sur le cuir chevelu. Souvent, cela se traduit par un recul des cheveux et / ou la calvitie sur le dessus de la tete. Propecia est utilise par des hommes seulement et ne doit pas etre utilise par les femmes ou les enfants.
Propecia peut egalement etre utilise a d’autres fins qui ne figurent pas dans ce guide de medicament.
Informations importantes concernant Propecia
Propecia ne doit jamais etre pris par une femme ou un enfant. Le finasteride peut etre absorbe par la peau, et les femmes ou les enfants ne devraient pas etre autorises a manipuler les comprimes de Propecia.
Avant de prendre Propecia, parlez-en a votre medecin si vous avez deja eu une reaction allergique au finasteride, ou a un medicament appele dutasteride (Avodart).
Bien que Propecia n’est pas pour une utilisation par les femmes, ce medicament peut causer des malformations congenitales si une femme est exposee a elle pendant la grossesse. Propecia comprimes ne doit pas etre manipule par une femme qui est enceinte ou qui peuvent devenir enceintes. Propecia comprimes sont enduits et empecheront le contact avec la substance active pendant la manipulation normale, a condition que les comprimes ne sont pas brises ou ecrases. Si une femme vient accidentellement en contact avec ce medicament a partir d’un comprime ecrase ou casse, laver la zone avec du savon et de l’eau tout de suite. Appelez votre medecin immediatement si vous remarquez des morceaux de poitrine, la douleur, un ecoulement du mamelon, ou des changements de l’autre sein. Ceux-ci peuvent etre des signes de cancer du sein chez l’homme.
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Avant de prendre Propecia
Propecia ne doit jamais etre pris par une femme ou un enfant. Le finasteride peut etre absorbe par la peau, et les femmes ou les enfants ne devraient pas etre autorises a manipuler un comprime de finasteride,
Pour vous assurer que vous pouvez sans risque prendre Propecia, parlez-en a votre medecin si vous avez un de ces autres conditions:
une maladie du foie, ou anormale des enzymes hepatiques;
cancer de la prostate;
un trouble muscle de la vessie;
retrecissement de l’uretre;
si vous etes incapable d’uriner, ou
si vous avez deja eu une reaction allergique a un medicament appele dutasteride (Avodart).
Bien que Propecia n’est pas pour une utilisation par les femmes, ce medicament peut causer des malformations congenitales si une femme est exposee a elle pendant la grossesse. Propecia comprimes ne doit pas etre manipule par une femme qui est enceinte ou qui peuvent devenir enceintes. Propecia comprimes sont enduits et empecheront le contact avec la substance active pendant la manipulation normale, a condition que les comprimes ne sont pas brises ou ecrases. Si une femme vient accidentellement en contact avec ce medicament a partir d’un comprime ecrase ou casse, laver la zone avec du savon et de l’eau tout de suite.
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Comment dois-je prendre Propecia?
Prenez Propecia exactement comme prescrit par votre medecin. Ne le prenez pas en grandes quantites ou pour plus longtemps que recommande. Suivez les instructions sur votre etiquette de prescription.
Prenez ce medicament avec un grand verre d’eau.
Propecia peut etre pris avec ou sans nourriture. Prendre ce medicament a la meme heure chaque jour.
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Pour etre sur que ce medicament est d’aider votre etat, votre sang peut etre necessaire de tester souvent. Votre medecin pourra egalement tester votre antigene prostatique specifique (PSA) pour verifier le cancer de la prostate. Consultez votre medecin regulierement.
Store Propecia a temperature ambiante loin de l’humidite, la chaleur et la lumiere. Conserver le flacon hermetiquement ferme lorsqu’il n’est pas utilise.
Qu’arrive-t-il si je manque une dose?
Prenez la dose oubliee des que vous vous souvenez. Sautez la dose oubliee s’il est presque temps pour votre prochaine dose programmee. Ne pas prendre des medicaments supplementaires pour compenser la dose oubliee.
Ce qui se passe si je surdose?
Obtenir des soins medicaux d’urgence ou appelez la ligne d’aide de poison a 1-800-222-1222. Un surdosage de Propecia ne devrait pas produire des symptomes vie en danger.
Que dois-je eviter tout en prenant Propecia?
Eviter de se lever trop vite d’une position assise ou couchee, ou vous pouvez vous sentir etourdi. Levez-vous lentement et reguliere-vous pour eviter une chute.
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Propecia effets secondaires
Obtenez de l’aide medicale d’urgence si vous avez un de ces signes d’une reaction allergique: urticaire, difficulte a respirer, gonflement de votre visage, levres, langue, ou de la gorge. Appelez votre medecin immediatement si vous remarquez des morceaux de poitrine, la douleur, un ecoulement du mamelon, ou des changements de l’autre sein. Ceux-ci peuvent etre des signes de cancer du sein chez l’homme.
Moins graves effets secondaires de Propecia peuvent inclure:
impuissance, perte d’interet pour le sexe, ou des difficultes a avoir un orgasme;
troubles de l’ejaculation;
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etourdissements, une faiblesse;
se sentir comme vous evanouir;
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Quels sont les medicaments peuvent affecter Propecia?
Il peut y avoir d’autres medicaments qui peuvent interagir avec Propecia. Parlez a votre medecin tous les medicaments que vous utilisez. Cela inclut sur ordonnance, en vente libre, les vitamines, et a base de plantes. Ne commencez pas un nouveau medicament sans en parler a votre medecin.
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26. July 2011 at 9:43 am :
Usually bikes are just thrown in the river and leave there to decompose hopefully. yeah, I guess steel would be the best options because it can be recycled easily plus it corrodes easily so it goes back to the soil.
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