greener miles

[Ian]

So, when I go to the gym, what I should really do is to take an electric motor and let that do the work for me.

Nick

I can never understand why treadmills have a motor. The motor is giving out energy, the "runner" is giving out energy so where's it all going.

 

[HarryB]

Originally Posted by HarryB

"Despite the intuitive sense that electric bikes would require more resources than
regular bikes, life-cycle analysis shows that they actually consume 2-4 times less
primary energy than human riders eating a conventional diet. This conclusion is
largely due to the considerable amount of transportation and processing energy
that is associated with our western food system."

Nick - Small point but it was not my quote - far too intellectual for me! I agree no point in gyms though but some point in being vegetarian.

 

[frank9755]

I can never understand why treadmills have a motor. The motor is giving out energy, the "runner" is giving out energy so where's it all going.

Good point, Ian. I guess they can turn up the air conditioning to compensate for the extra heat?

I wonder how long before having a gym membership becomes the new 4x4 ownership?
Gyms could offer carbon offsetting for 'bingers' to repay their debts to society!
Or maybe they could wire those treadmills up to the national grid, or even to power the air conditioning directly!

 

[Tiberius]

The meat eating sun

Nick - Small point but it was not my quote - far too intellectual for me! I agree no point in gyms though but some point in being vegetarian.

Harry, I know, and apologies if it was misleading. I couldn't get it to quote a quote, if you see what I mean. The best I could think of was to put it in italics, then found out they are all in italics.

And I still don't know if the original point about human muscle power being requiring more primary energy than electric vehicles is correct - even in the decadent west.

Nick

 

[HarryB]

Harry, I know, and apologies if it was misleading. I couldn't get it to quote a quote, if you see what I mean. The best I could think of was to put it in italics, then found out they are all in italics.

And I still don't know if the original point about human muscle power being requiring more primary energy than electric vehicles is correct - even in the decadent west.

Nick

Seems unlikely doesn't it. I make sure I always run on porridge, at least in the mornings anyway.

 

[Branwen]

How effective are electric bikes at reducing our petrol miles?
Last year i did 6000 miles by car and around 2000 miles by piaggio scooter.
This year i am hoping to replace the scooter with an electric bike and so edge down a little further my contribution to pollution.

how about you?

Gave up my car when I got the electric bike, so made a huge difference to me. I have to get groceries delivered by online Tesco, which isn't a bad thing as I hate supermarkets, but a lot of shops lost my custom by having very expensive delivery charges in the last five years since I went green.

 

[giguana]

here is a way to calculate the cost... 3Amps from the charger on 36v battery is 48x3=150 watts ......

Example:

1. If you watch TV 4 hours a day you can calculate how much electricity this will use per year.

TV Power rating = 100 Watts x 4 hours / day x 365 days / year
1000
= 146 kWh x 6.8 p / kWh
= £9.98 / year

so for an electric bike it would be about 30 quid a year with daily commuting.
Fuel costs per kWh