Re: gasoline prices

[Rick Tarara <rbtarara@SPRYNET.COM>]

So for approximately $.50 (candy bar) one can cycle as far as about $.80
worth of gasoline carries you in a (not very efficient) car.  Of course, add
another passenger to the car and the figures change.  Then there is all the
problem with weather and especially safety.  The bike does use renewable
fuels and is considerably less polluting (depends on what you do with the
candy wrapper ;-), but economically this isn't a big gain.  OK, if you could
really do without a car then it would be--no insurance, taxes, capital
costs, etc.--but a 55 year old body, a northern climate, and streets on
which it is even unsafe to drive makes this an 'academic' comparison.

A note from my energy class this year:  It is quite clear that car-pooling
is a far more effective way to cut down on fuel usage than mass-transit and
VERY much cheaper to accomplish.  It is also not that difficult to devise
ways to 'force' car pooling.  I was actually surprised at the figures but
after thinking about it, it does make sense.

Rick

**************************************************
Richard W. Tarara
Associate Professor of Physics
Department of Chemistry & Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
219-284-4664
rtarara@saintmarys.edu

Free Physics Instructional Software
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara

Win9.x, WinNT/2000,  Win3.x, Dos, Mac, and PowerMac
New:  World Energy Simulator, Animated Chalkboard package
Windows and Mac  CD-ROMs  now available.
****************************************************
----- Original Message -----
From: "Art Hobson" <ahobson@COMP.UARK.EDU>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2000 12:11 PM
Subject: gasoline prices


> In response to questions about the energy-efficiency tables I listed
> yesterday, I want to explain the meaning of the figures listed for
> biological transportation methods such as bicycling:   The "fuel" is food,
> and the amount of fuel is the number of food calories consumed.  It
> includes the basal metabolism rate.  For example, the energy efficiency of
> bicycling is quoted as 18 passenger-km/MJ.  This means that, to maintain a
> constant supply of stored biological energy, while bicycling 18 km and
> simultaneously doing all the other things a human body does (heart, lungs,
> etc.), you must consume 1 MJ (240 kcal, or 240 dietician's Calories) in
the
> form of food (i.e. chemical energy that is then metabolised).   - Art
Hobson
> Art Hobson, Physics, U Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701
> See info about my liberal-arts physics textbook at
> http://www.uark.edu/depts/physics/about/hobson.html