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Old 07-31-06, 03:25 PM
  #139  
lyeinyoureye
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Originally Posted by wageslaveonbike
Hmmm. I don't think I buy that one. I have typically heard from most credible sources that it takes about 10 calories of fossil fuels for every 1 calorie of food. Thats the standard american diet. I imagine it is significantly less for just plain wheat.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/btc/gasfood112105.cfm

www.nyu.edu/classes/siva/archives/002956.html

http://www.solartoday.org/2005/july_...cornerJA05.htm
Could be. I'm just clarifying my previous post. I thought one calorie of grain required one calorie of fossil fuel, but it's 10-1 for grain, and probably 100-1 for meat, which means that "cars", i.e. mechanical people carriers are generally as efficient or more efficient than a cyclist at the same speed in terms of fossil fuel use. Unlike the approximate draw that I presented in my long 4$$ post. So by bicycling we're actually using as many or more fossil fuel calories compared to driving at the same speed. Otoh, everything I stated in the last post holds true if the car is going ~50mph and the cyclist ~15mph... Unfortunately I don' think most people can spend 4-6hours a day commuting.
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