My bicycle
& the environment

• What is my bike made of?
  • Steel
  • Aluminium
  • Synthetic Materials
• The Effects of Using My Bike on the Environment
• What Should I Do?

When I ride my bicycle to work I use less energy per distance than any other form of transport, including walking!

What is my bicycle made of?

My 14-kilo bicycle is mostly made of steel, aluminium, rubber and plastics.

The frame of my bicycle is made of a steel alloy, so that it is strong. Steel alloys like this are made in mini-mills that melt down scrap metal.

STEEL is a strong metal made from iron. Sometimes other metals are mixed in it to made an ALLOY.

MINI-MILL: a small factory.

SCRAP METAL: Used metal that has been collected to be used again.

The steel

Seven kilos of steel were used to make the frame and the wheels of my bike. The steel was made from scrap metal that came from a junk yard near the mini-mill, in Chicago, USA.
Making steel from scrap metal used only one quarter of the energy that is needed to make steel from iron ore.
When the scrap metal was melted down, there was a little pollution: small amounts of gases; 60 grammes of toxic dust; and a few grams of waste containing heavy metals.

FRAME: the central supporting part that holds everything in position.

JUNK YARD: A place where things that nobody wants are left.

HEAVY METALS: metals like lead (Pb) or cadmium (Cd) that weigh a great deal and are often poisonous.

The aluminium

The four kilos of aluminium in my bicycle was made in Siberia.

My complete bike used less aluminium than just one car wheel.

Synthetic materials

The bike also used about eight pounds of synthetic materials: cable guides made of nylon came from Delaware, the plastic handlebar grips from Italy, a plastic seat and the rubber tyres from Taiwan.

SYNTHETIC: made by people (rather than natural).

The effects of using my bike on the environment

When I ride my bicycle I cause no air pollution. I do not increase global warming. I do not use fossil fuels. I do not send toxic chemicals into the air.
When I ride my bike, I use much less space on the roads than cars and my bike takes only 5% of the space that a car needs for parking.
And riding a bicycle is safer per mile than driving.

GLOBAL WARMING: the increase of the temperature of the earth caused by carbon dioxide and other gasses trapping heat.

FOSSIL FUELS: fuels like gas, oil, or coal that come from ancient plants.

TOXIC CHEMICALS: poisonous substances.

What should I do?

It's obvious!