Did You Know?

A person on a bicycle can go three or four times faster than the pedestrian, but uses five times less energy in the process. With the bicycle, people outstrip the efficiency of not only all machines but all other animals as well. Ivan Illich: Toward a History of Needs.

Efficiency of biking vs. gasoline
Riding a bicycle 1 mile consumes 35 food calories,
the energy equivalent of getting 826 miles-per-gallon of gasoline.

      1 gallon gasoline = 31,470 Calories [nutritional]
     divided by 35 calories it takes to ride 1 mile
     = 835 miles per gallon is the energy equivalent

Using 1 gallon of gasoline releases about 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere contributing to climate change.

A typical car emits 1 pound of carbon dioxide per mile, or about 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year.

A 10 mile bicycle ride will burn about 40 grams of fat – and get you where you’re going.

Producing a brand new bicycle uses about 1 Giga Joule of energy; this is equal to about 1 tank of gasoline. Each time a bicycle is repaired instead of scrapped, we avoid putting about 200 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere. Calculated using the Carnegie Mellon University Green Design Institute’s Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) model Available from: <http://www.eiolca.net/> [Accessed 20 Dec, 2007]. from Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition

If all our energy were supplied through human power it would take 300 people working round the clock to support each one of us in our daily consumption! Richard Heinberg. Powerdown

1 acre of cattails can yield 7000 gallons of ethanol – grown without pesticides or fertilizer and while cleaning the water. Ethanol Power for the People, Science Friday, 8-15-08

Watt We Can Generate using Cycle the Tower of Power

167    Coffee Maker
133     Computer
                    or 30-80     W Laptop Computer
122    Incandescent Outdoor Flood Light
                    or 22 Watts for a Compact Fluorescent Outdoor Flood Light
100    100 W Light Bulb
75      Fan
60     60 W Light Bulb
55      Stereo
25      Satellite / Cable Receiver Box
12      Wireless Router
12      Printer
10      Cable Modem
10      Alarm Clock Radio
7       Night Light
5       Cell Phone Charger