We give a new proof of a result of Kenyon that the growth exponent for
loop-erased random walks in two dimensions is 5/4. The proof uses the
convergence of LERW to Schramm-Loewner evolution with parameter 2, and is valid
for irreducible bounded symmetric random walks on any two-dimensional discrete
lattice.Comment: 62 pages, 7 figures; fixed typos, added reference