Bike Commute Carbon & Calorie Calculator

Enter your one-way distance, how many days a week you ride, your body weight, your car's mpg, and a pace tier.

Worked example: 5 miles each way, 5 days a week, 170 lb, moderate pace, 25 mpg.

• Round trip = 10 miles. Weekly = 50 miles. Annual = 50 × 52 = 2,600 miles.
• Weight = 170 × 0.453592 = 77.1 kg. At MET 8, that is 616.9 calories an hour.
• At 13 mph, a round trip takes 10 ÷ 13 = 0.77 hours, so it burns 474.5 calories. That makes 2,372.6 a week and 123,377 a year.
• CO2: 8,887 ÷ 25 = 355.5 g per mile. Over 2,600 miles that is 0.92 metric tons a year.

The result panel shows the annual calories, calories per round trip, CO2 avoided, and annual miles.

Round trip miles = One-way distance × 2. Annual miles = Round trip × Days per week × 52. Days are capped at 7.

Weight (kg) = Pounds × 0.453592. Calories per hour = MET × Weight (kg). This treats 1 MET as about 1 kilocalorie per kilogram per hour.

Riding hours per round trip = Round trip miles ÷ Pace speed. Calories per round trip = Calories per hour × Riding hours. Weekly and annual totals scale by days and weeks.

Pace tiers: Leisurely = 10 mph at MET 6. Moderate = 13 mph at MET 8. Vigorous = 15 mph at MET 10.

CO2 avoided (metric tons a year) = (8,887 g ÷ MPG) × Annual miles ÷ 1,000,000.

Now take a 150 lb rider going 3 miles each way, 3 days a week, at a leisurely 10 mph, who would otherwise drive a 30 mpg car.

The round trip is 6 miles, which makes 18 a week and 936 a year. At 68 kg and MET 6, the rider burns 408.2 calories an hour. A 0.6-hour round trip burns 244.9 calories, which adds up to 734.8 a week and 38,211 a year.

CO2 avoided is 8,887 ÷ 30 = 296.2 g a mile, or 0.28 metric tons a year.

The annual calories are less than a third of the first example's. Fewer miles account for most of that gap, since this rider covers 936 miles against 2,600. The more efficient car also shrinks the CO2 saved per mile.

Body weight scales calories in direct proportion. On the 5-mile, 5-day moderate commute, a 130 lb rider burns 362.9 calories per round trip, or 94,347 a year. A 220 lb rider burns 614.1, or 159,664 a year. The CO2 avoided is the same 0.92 tons for both, because it depends only on the car.

Riding faster adds less than you might expect over a fixed distance. For the 170 lb rider, the leisurely tier gives 462.7 calories per round trip, moderate 474.5 and vigorous 514.1. A higher MET value burns more per hour, but a faster pace means fewer hours in the saddle.

How the tiers compare with the 2024 Compendium. The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities (Herrmann, Willis and colleagues, Journal of Sport and Health Science) lists 8.0 METs for cycling at 12 to 13.9 mph and 10.0 at 14 to 15.9 mph. Both match the calculator's moderate and vigorous tiers. For 10 to 11.9 mph it lists 6.8, and it also gives 6.8 for cycling to and from work at a self-selected pace. The calculator's leisurely tier uses 6, so its results are about 12% lower than the current Compendium value.

Gross versus extra calories. MET values include the energy your body would burn at rest anyway. For the moderate example, the calories above resting are (MET − 1) ÷ MET of the total: about 415.2 per round trip, or 107,955 a year.

MET values are averages for groups of people. Fitness, bike type, tyre pressure, hills, wind, traffic stops and cargo all change real energy use, and a hilly route or a strong headwind raises it.

The calculator assumes you ride every week of the year at a constant speed. Weather, holidays and illness mean most people ride fewer weeks, so scale the annual figures by how many weeks you actually ride. Riding the first example for 40 weeks instead of 52 gives about 2,000 miles, 94,905 calories and 0.71 metric tons of CO2 avoided.

The pace tier sets both the effort and the time spent riding. If traffic lights pull your door-to-door average below the tier's speed, the calculator underestimates your time on the bike. But you are not pedalling hard while you wait at a light, so pick the tier that matches how hard you ride between stops.

The CO2 figure counts only the gasoline burned in your own car. It ignores emissions from producing the fuel and from making the bike, and it assumes every mile ridden replaces a car mile.

Calories burned do not translate directly into weight lost. Appetite, diet and the rest of the day's activity all matter. This is not medical advice; if you have a heart condition or other health concerns, check with a doctor before starting a new exercise routine.

If the route is too long or hilly to ride unassisted, the e-bike vs car savings calculator prices the same swap with a motor, adding charging cost and savings in dollars. On days when riding is not practical, the eco-commute and work-from-home calculator shows what staying home or changing how you travel is worth.

To see how commuting fits within a household's emissions alongside home energy, flights and waste, add the CO2 figure to the carbon footprint calculator. For bus or rail days, the public transit vs driving calculator runs the fare-based comparison.