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KUNR Public Radio is a proud partner in the Mountain West News Bureau, a partnership of public media stations that serve Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming. The mission is to tell stories about the people, places and issues of the Mountain West.

E-Scooters Maybe Not So Green After All

Phillip Pessar / Flickr CC by 2.0

Electric, dockless scooters are showing up across the region, especially in bigger cities like Denver and Salt Lake City. But a new study suggests they may not be as environmentally friendly as you think.

Dr. Jeremiah Johnson is one of the co-authors of the study published in "Environmental Research Letters." He said whether or not riding one of these scooters is a green option depends on how you're using it.

"If you're substituting for a car ride there's pretty clearly an environmental win there," he said.

But if you're doing it instead of walking or riding a bike, not so much. The study also looked at the less visible impacts, like the materials and manufacturing. That accounted for about half of the CO2 emissions produced by the scooters.

"About 40 percent of the impacts were from that collection and redistribution process," Johnson explained. "So driving around to pick the scooters up to bring them somewhere to charge.

Johnson said only about 5 percent of impacts were from the electricity used to charge the scooters.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.

Copyright 2019 Wyoming Public Radio

Maggie Mullen is a fifth generation Wyomingite, born and raised in Casper. She is currently a Masters candidate in American Studies and will defend her thesis on female body hair in contemporary American culture this May. Before graduate school, she earned her BA in English and French from the University of Wyoming. Maggie enjoys writing, cooking, her bicycle, swimming in rivers and lakes, and most any dog.
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