Mastodawn

"A cyclist can go 3 or 4 times faster than a pedestrian, but uses 5 times less energy. The bicycle is the perfect transducer to match metabolic energy to impedance of locomotion. Equipped with this tool, man outstrips efficiency of not only all machines, but all other animals as well."
—Ivan Illich, 1974.

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Quinn9282 🖥️🌙✌️Jun 19

@straphanger I've seen that chart many times before and it's pretty out-of-date/inaccurate AFAICT. The Boeing 727 is a 40 to 60+ year-old aircraft that hasn't been in passenger service for years, so not a good comparison metric. And I don't really understand how taxis are way less efficient than passenger cars on their own? And how can electric and diesel rail have the same efficiency rating? Isn't electric rail a lot more efficient than diesel rail in practice?

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Morten Grøftehauge

@Quinn9282 @straphanger If the chart is old then there's probably not a lot of renewable energy in the mix. So the efficiency is the same whether you burn the fuel in the train or a power plant.