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Re: gasoline prices



Some of the comments below remind me a bit about the
debate in Washington, DC some years back on the merits
of the proposed subway system. "For the cost of the
system, you can buy a new car for every person in the
district" was a favorite of the opposition. Would
ANYONE in DC now seriously argue that the system is
anything but an unqualified success? You really need
to compare all of the costs (even the tough, indirect
ones which often are surprisingly large) of both
systems to get a true picture. Many "inefficient"
systems are actually far superior. For example, on a
cost-per-pupil basis, a 3000 student high school is
more "efficient" than a 750 student school. BUT the
alienation and loneliness that many adolescents face
is MUCH easier to spot and work on in a small
community than in a factory setting. Given protection
from motor vehicles, biking to work could well yield
substantial savings in future medical costs. It would
also be a force to reduce (and reverse?) suburban
sprawl. But I agree with Rick that "creative coercion"
to carpool is the most practical, cost-effective way
to improve surface personal transportation efficiency.

--- Rick Tarara <rbtarara@SPRYNET.COM> wrote:
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

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****************************************************
----- 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


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