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this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
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Most efficient?
Human bodies are god awful at converting fuel to useful mechanical energy.
I’m pretty sure they meant most efficient in terms of emissions, not energy conversion. Even if you count farting as emissions, bikes put out basically no emissions. You’d have to get 100% of your electricity from renewables to match them in an electric car.
Poor energy conversion means more emissions. 🤦♂️
Are you honestly going to tell me that you think a person riding a bicycle produces more emissions than a person driving a car?
I'm sure that would be relevant if my body was attempting to push an entire car to work every day. When I cycle to work, I'm carrying at most 15 kilos of bike and belongings with me. With the efficiency multiplier of gears and wheels, I believe my 8 kilometer trip burns about 200 kilocalories. I don't think that much energy will move an entire 2000 kilo car very far at all, whether it's powered with electricity or petrol.
And how much food does that require you to ingest? What did it take to produce that food, deliver it to you, and take it away when you shat it out?
So easy to ignore all the inbound energy that was utilized for your body to produce 2kc.
200 kcals is like 1/10 of the average person's daily intake, so maybe 1/3 of an average meal? Not much at all, comparatively. If you're still concerned about efficiency, slap a small electric motor on the bike, but even a fully human-powered bike is more energy efficient than driving an entire car.