Transport effeciencies

[Ehouse]

If I want to go from a street address in NY City to a street address in San Fran., what's the most efficient way, as we speak. What's the most efficient way you can think of?

 

[fossil]

New shoes and a boatload of granola bars?

 

[Where2]

Get (or build) a velomobile shaped like a WAW. Equivalent of 4700mpg. Far better than an ordinary bicycle at equivalent of 879mpg.

If you're not into pedaling (did 10 miles on my bike tonight), then the next best choice would be to go via rail. The fuel economies of rail transport make my 50+mpg VW diesel look bad. Amtrak only needs around 2435BTU/mi.

 

[Ehouse]

Well, let's see, I've read the Indians could go coast to coast with nine miles of portage, so if your shoe leather holds up, the limiting factor should be hauling that barge of fodder over the Cascades and into the Columbia River, then, just a hop skip and jump down to San Fran for a Latte.

 

[btuser]

I think time has to be considered. You can ride a bicycle and be more efficient but if it takes you a month to get from Anacortes WA to Portsmouth NH vs. 5 days in a car, but we're only here for a little while.

 

[Grisu]

If I want to go from a street address in NY City to a street address in San Fran., what's the most efficient way, as we speak. What's the most efficient way you can think of?

Sounds like a simple question but is actually not that easy. Efficient in terms of energy efficiency or also including time? Total energy use or fossil fuel use? Including energy used indirectly e. g. for producing food for a cyclist? What percentage of occupancy are we assuming for mass transportation (bus, rail, plane)? That said and assuming we only want to reduce FF consumption as much as possible the two most efficient ways would by the velomobile mentioned by Where2 and a sailboat going around the Americas either in the South or North (the panama channel has locks which require energy for pumping). A fancy way would be a solar car and wasn't there a solar plane going cross-country recently? After that I would suggest walking and then horseback riding. Going to more common forms of transportation I clearly favor bus over train. Greyhound: 170 passengermiles; Amtrak: ~50 passengermiles per gallon. Btw. Even when you assume full capacity for both the bus is as good if not better than the train due to the much lower weight and less "wasted" space. Motorcycle: ~70 pmg; Plane almost full: ~60 pmg; car, 1 driver: 20 to 40 pmg.

 

[Ehouse]

Lets add a time factor and a comfort factor.

Borrowing from freight technology, lets use a container that is multi- modal (truck, rail, ship containers are in common use). A bus is a good people pod because it can begin and end at a street address, and is relatively (fossil fuel) efficient. Lets shrink it down to a more wieldly dimension and capacity say 20 souls. Now it can be much lighter and easier to keep full. I remember traveling by "collectivo" in Central America. The total fare was fixed and the van would depart only when it was met so to get the best price per passenger, they were generally run full.

Our "Bod Pod" can start out under it's own power, say a small electric plant, and move a short distance to a merge location to entrain or corral with other pods or hook up to a motive element. I remember skiing in Quebec and riding detachable pods with 10 or more skiers to the top of the Mountain. Skis were removed and stored in racks on the outside of the car. That merge tech. seems like a sleeper to me. Should work for cyclists too. Just hang your bike and board the pod at low speed and zoom away within seconds.

 

[BrotherBart]

Walk into a Manhattan police station and confess to a crime in San Francisco.

 

[fossil]

Put flowers in your hair and hitch hike. Oh wait, that was just a flashback. Sorry.

 

[WES999]

This^