What is the most energy efficient mode of transportation?

Which mode of transportation is the most energy efficient - meaning it requires the least amount of energy to transport people from one place to another?





a) Walking


b) Bicycling


c) Train


d) Car with 5 passengers


e) Moped


f) Horseback riding





Give your answer before reading the Additional Details, which will contain the correct answer. No cheating!

What is the most energy efficient mode of transportation?
biking is the most effecient for each individual person, the reason being that it uses mechanics of the wheel to use momentum to the advantage rather than jarring of walking. As well, cars only use something like 15% of the energy in fuel to actually propel the car, most is wasted as heat. I bike everywhere, it is great fun and environmentally responisble.
Reply:Of course your walking and biking figures do not include the oil used to produce the food energy used by a walker or biker. Report It

Reply:C. Trains





They are most efficient means of moving people and goods in bulk ever devised. You cannot do that on a bike so B is wrong.
Reply:That all depends on where you are. I live in North Dakota. A bike is pretty much wothless in January. So is a tiny little "eco car" that will get blown all over the ice like a pop can. I'll go with my big, heavy, 4WD pick-up, thank you.
Reply:I would like to suggest wind power as in sailing ships





it doesn' t require any fossil fuel or human power and can be efficient if time is not a big concern..
Reply:Why give the correct answer?





I heard cycling was 5 times mpore efficient than walking.





I'm putting together a bike trailer soon, I feel like a big kid!!
Reply:Your "correct" answer is wrong for the question as stated.





Correct answer is that it depends.





Transporting one person for a short trip - bicycle.





Transporting a family of 5 (including small children) to the movies? The car.





Transporting 20 tons of corn a thousand miles? The train.





Transporting a cowboy 30 miles across rugged terrain? The horse.





Going to the corner to pick up the mail? Walk.





There is no single "correct" answer for many environmental issues. Picking up the right tool for the job is the real key.
Reply:One more phisherman. Why not ask for answers to questions you don't know rather than phrasing a statement as a question and phishing for people to agree with your viewpoint? Puts you right up there with the deniers in my book.
Reply:This is actually pretty tough to answer because of many variables.





The formula to be used in this case is mass x velocity x time.





But we also have to take into account the number of people capable of using each mode of transportation. So the solutions that we come up with have to be divided by the number of people that each mode can transport.





We have to assume that the distance is the same for each trip. Let's just say 1 kilometer. We also have to make some assumptions about the mass of some vehicles, the number of people that can ride on a train, and the average speed at which each mode operates.





Hopefully, nobody cares if I use the metric system.





I am going to assume that a person weighs 70 kilos (about 150 pounds).





Walking:


Mass = 70 kilos


Avg speed = 5 kph = 1.4 m / s


Time to travel 1 km = 720 sec





Energy = 70560 units








Bicycling:


Ave mass of a bicycle = 10 kilos (the mass of my bike)


Avg speed of a bicycle = 25 kph = 5.6 m / s


(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_wei... )


Total mass with rider: 80 kg


Time to travel 1 km = 144 s





Energy = 64512 units








Train:


Avg speed = 200 kph = 56 m/s


Avg mass = 299,000 kg


Passenger total = 309 people (although it is unlikely it will be full)


Added mass from passengers = 21,000 kg


Total mass = 320,000 kg


(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendolino)


Time to travel 1 km = 18





Energy = 1,044,000 units per person








Car with 5 passengers:


Avg speed of a car = 80 kmh = 22 m / s (total assumption, there are an abundance of possibilities depending on where you are)


Avg mass of a car = 1600 kg


(source: http://www.newrules.org/voice2004/factoi... )


Added mass of passengers = 350 kg


Total mass = 1950 kg


Time to travel 1 km = 45 s





Energy = 390,000 units per person








Moped:


Avg mass =70 kg (assumption)


Avg speed = 40 kph = 11 m / s (assumption)


Total mass with passenger = 140 kg


Time to travel 1 km = 90 s





Energy = 138,600 units








Horseback:


Avg mass = 460 kg


Avg speed = 50 kmh = 14 m / s


(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse )


Total mass with rider = 530 kg


Time to travel 1 km = 72 s





Energy = 534,240








So the answer is the bicycle.





Cool, I am glad that is over with.
Reply:i picked bicycle because you don't have to use any energy going downhill, and once you get fast enough you can just coast.
Reply:ya that ahookasmoka stuff
Reply:a
Reply:Regardless of the correctness of the above observations, I would say that walking is the most energy-efficient mode of transportation, since the bicycle involves manufacturing parts from metals, plastics, rubbers, all of which require a fair amount of energy to produce and create environmental issues.
Reply:I would say the bike is the most efficient means of trans.


also it is very good exercise. lets face it most people are out of shape anyways!! it would doo people good
Reply:no 1 ,Astral travel ,you take Ahuahuaska and the spirit leaves the body to go traveling ,





Meditation can archieve the same results but you need a lot of experience.


the cheapest form of travel.





No 4 may be walking but the distance is limited and the speed is slow





Horses are very expensive to keep ,unless you have a lot of pasture but again your distance is limited .I know I slept in a barn with my horse for a long time and the thing eats day and night.





Trains go further are quite cheap but they dont cross oceans (Astral travel does)but you can move a lot of people around.





Bicycle is not bad and you get very fit and ocasionally very wet or cold or hot .





Car with 5 friends can be lethal especially if some got beer.(experience)





Moped ties you to the gasoline but is easier than a bike.





Still will come back to Astral travel as the cheapest and furthest , I think you can leave the planet with that and cross dimensions.





A balloon and /or a sailing ship may be the cheapest next ,for cost over distance





I wanted to cheat where are the damn additional details





And Bob is right of course, travel where and why is the essence.you dont use a bike to pick up a ton of bricks.


,and you dont use a tractor to post a letter on the corner.





or take a plane to the pub


hmm,not sure about that one





Way to go green


you understand Astral travel,but Ahuahuaska is more effective than prayers ,so not only angels get to travel you can as well.
Reply:Prayer. When an angel comes down from Heaven they travel billions of light years in an instant. Example: the distance from Pluto to Earth takes 10 years to accomplish by the Hubble space telescope. An angel can accomplish this in the blink of an eye. Just believe and receive.