World's most energy efficient transport

[Jonno]

ABC Environment

World's most energy efficient transport
By Warren McLaren

http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2011/03/17/3164607.htm

The humble bicycle is the most energy efficient transport ever devised, yet government funds to support it in Australia are running dry.

Susan Anthony, a prominent 19th Century anti-slavery and women rights advocate once decreed the bicycle had "done more to emancipate women then anything else in the world." What Susan would make of humankind's current enslavement by automobile.

We are ensnared by cars. Australia ranks fourth in the world by motor vehicles per capita, 619 vehicles per 1,000 people. Last year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said we had 16 million registered motor vehicles, including motor cycles. Roughly a motor vehicle available for every Australian able to sit a driver's licence test.

In a society so saturated with cars, one may wonder how we might ever unshackle ourselves from the addiction. Withdrawal symptoms are imminent. Without the magical elixir of petroleum most of us would grind to a sudden holt. Yet oil is a finite fossil fuel and global production of the stuff has been in decline for the past 15 years, whilst demand increases. Some studies suggest demand will outstrip supply by about 2015.

The World Resources Institute calculated just shy of 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions result from road transport, a figure that mostly tallies with the Australian experience, where, for example, Queensland estimates that road travel in that state accounts for 12 per cent of their greenhouse gas total. Nationally, the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics conclude that our "passenger car fleet will remain the single largest contributor to total sector emissions," predicting it will be around 47 per cent of 2020 domestic transport output (pdf).

Riding steadfastly into these storm clouds is the unassuming bicycle. Not that folk such as the environmental think tank, the Sightline Institute see the push bike as really so humble. In their view, the bicycle is, "the most energy-efficient form of travel ever devised." They reckon that, "Pound for pound, a person on a bicycle expends less energy than any creature or machine covering the same distance."

Not only is the treadly mankind's most effective means of transport, it's also often the swiftest. In commuter races held across the globe, all modes of transport compete against one another; car, bicycle, train, bus, even helicopter. Often the first person to arrive across the metropolis at Point B is the bod aboard the bike. Even TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson had to lament, "You've killed Top Gear," when a bicycle ridden by one of the program's fellow presenters finished a London commuter race 15 minutes ahead of all other transport modes, including a speedboat.

With so much going for it, why is the bicycle so commonly dismissed as a form of personal transport? Well, there is the issue of propulsion. Someone has to push those pedals, and for many that is simply too much exercise. Although as Minna, in the ABC's TV drama, Bed of Roses, discovered, electric bikes help solve this concern.

But is a little exercise really such a big ask, when well over half of our citizens are classified as overweight or obese? A study by Melbourne University found that due to increased health of cyclists, the Australian public health service was spared an estimated $227 million annually. Getting 'on ya bike' might just save your life.

AusRoads, the association of Australian and New Zealand roads authorities acknowledges the significant benefits of cycling commuting, stating that not only do bicycles impose 95 per cent less traffic congestion than an average car, but if we were to shift a mere five per cent of car trips to bicycle, greenhouse gas emission impacts could reduce by up to eight per cent. Hence the goal of the National Cycling Strategy to double the number of Australians cycling by 2016 (pdf).

It is true that there are risks involved in cycle commuting, but they need to be considered within context. The above noted Melbourne Uni study also revealed that you're seven times more likely to be hospitalised playing football than riding a bike. In 2008 1,242 Australian drivers, passengers and motor cyclists died in road traffic accidents, compared to 27 cyclists. While there are less cyclists on the road than car drivers, the precise ratio is a hard figure to verify. But as of 2009, bicycles outsold motor vehicles in Australia, a feat they've managed for the previous 10 consecutive years (pdf).

That's not to belittle the real dangers inherent in cycling, but it's not as risky as first imagined.

If we could safely segregate 14 kilogram bicycles from 1,500 kg passenger cars with more sensibly designed and located cycleways, cycling would be even safer. Yet the Commonwealth's $40 million National Bike Paths Project Fund runs dry in June 2011. A study (pdf) commissioned by City of Sydney Council shows that for every dollar spent on an inner city regional bicycle network, Sydney would gain almost four dollars in net economic benefit. A saving of $506 million over 30 years. Such a network is predicted to reduce Sydney's traffic congestion by 4.3 million car trips a year.

Surely a top up is needed for the National Bike Paths Project Fund to free us from our bondage to the automobile and allow the health, environment and economic advantages to unfold.

Warren McLaren is an ecodesign consultant, who writes for the international sustainability solutions blog, TreeHugger.com

[Gazza]

Dunno If I've ever posted this, but these videos of cycling in the Netherlands makes for some awesome viewing.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbcgxIA-vVw&feature=related

[Stillwater]

Convert to pedel power those buses in the USA that carry overweight people and solve several problems at once.