horse vs bicycle vs car

I doubt horses would become important again. They're too labor
intensive, space intensive, hungry, and dirty. Instead we'd probably have
more electric vehicles.


.... assuming that existing efficient (30%) solar panels become ~100
times cheaper to make in any foreseeable time.

A one engine train can haul 25 cars of 200,000 pounds of cargo 0.5
miles per gallon = 2,500,000 cargo pound miles per gallon.

I am with you on the trains. Just need to rebuilt all the railroads
that car manufacturers have cannibalized.

In article ,
Tom Sherman writes:
Tom Keats wrote:
In article ,
" writes:
Suppose the world runs out of oil overnight (instead of 20 yrs) and
you wake to a $30.00 a gallon. Would riding horses become economically
relevant again (horses convert "biofuel" directly into mechanical
energy)? 1 HP is 700W. I wonder for how long a horse can sustain the
700W. A bicyclist can sustain 200W, but not much additional load.

You'd be surprised by how much cargo can be
hauled by bicycle.

How many cyclists can be fed by one horse?

Perhaps not as many as can be fed by one ox,
which in some respects can also be a superior
draught animal. I figure the meat would need
a ~lot~ of marinating/tenderizing, though.
Especially the load-bearing tissues.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

In article ,
" writes:

You'd be surprised by how much cargo can be
hauled by bicycle.

Yes, by a fit cyclist. if you just took your butt out of your SUV
seat, much less.

I don't have an SUV. The only things I've ever driven are
forklifts, order-pickers, high-reach trucks, and walkies
(motorized rider pallet trucks.) I like walkies the most.
Order-pickers are fun 'cuz you can go up really high and
yell at everybody down on the floor. But I especially like
walkies 'cuz they're more physical to operate, and there
aren't any blind spots, and I don't have to sit down.
If the fat-assed forklift guys **** me off, I can just park
my walkie astride the warehouse aisle to block it off, and
step off, and walk away.

"Fit" -- meh! In fact: Fah!!

Fitness should be the norm, not the exception.

Our comfy North American culture is weighed-down by a bunch
of Wonder Bread weaklings who wanna analyze spread sheets
and GANTT charts, and play X-Box games instead of doing
real stuff.

And y'know what? Becoming "fit" ain't all that hard to do.

People sit in chairs too much.

Anybody can do anything if they'd just give themselves
the chance.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

In article ,
" writes:
Suppose the world runs out of oil overnight (instead of 20 yrs) and
you wake to a $30.00 a gallon. Would riding horses become economically
relevant again (horses convert "biofuel" directly into mechanical
energy)? 1 HP is 700W. I wonder for how long a horse can sustain the
700W. A bicyclist can sustain 200W, but not much additional load.

As a Sagittarian, I feel compelled to put a stop
to this notion of so exploiting my half-brothers
and half-sisters.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

Tom Keats wrote:
In article ,
" writes:
You'd be surprised by how much cargo can be
hauled by bicycle.
Yes, by a fit cyclist. if you just took your butt out of your SUV
seat, much less.

I don't have an SUV.[...]

On can be a fit cyclist while sitting on one's butt in an SUV seat. For
example, here is a SUV cyclist carrying one (1) hominid as cargo:
http://www.organicengines.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/NoWayEtAl.jpg.

Here is a parked SUV, sans cyclists and hominid cargo:
http://www.organicengines.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/BeachCab.jpg.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful