Another factor to consider is that the design of cities and suburbs would probably change considerably if a much higher percentage of transportation were by bicycle. I would assume sprawl would be reduced somewhat, and therefore there would be a corresponding decrease in travel distances, and thus energy consumption. Gone would be the days where people in places like L.A. would commute over 200 miles per day. I would be very suprised if an averagte american regularly commuting by bicycle could sustain any more than a 40-mile per day commute.
Another factor, which my family discovered during our car-free years, is that we were much more efficient in planning our errands. So much so that we actually had MORE FREE TIME without the car than we did with it. I guess you could combine these under the moniker of "secondary induced efficiencies". > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [Bikies] [Fwd: The Environmentl Paradox of Bicycling] > From: George Perkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Fri, August 11, 2006 2:13 pm > To: Dane County Bicycle Transportation Alliance <[email protected]> > > Well!! If EVERYONE would ... just DIE! Then we'd all be better > off, wouldn't we? Global climate change crisis solved and no more > air and water pollution (except for 6 billion rotting corpses, but > they're biodegrable after all). > > The author's analysis, of course, is totally and ridiculously > flawed. He does not account for the environmental and energy costs > of designing, producing, maintaining, and disposing of cars (and > bicycles), the auto infrastructure, or a myriad of other aspects of > the equation. > > > [snip] > > > http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/%7Eulrich/documents/ulrich-cycling-enviro-jul06.pdf > > > > The main premise of this article is that cycling doesn't generate > the > > energy savings that would be expected because the participants > live > > longer than sedentary people. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
