Most efficient means of transportatation?

Question

Most efficient means of transportatation?

chicopee (Mechanical)

(OP)

18 Jan 09 08:34

Is the bicycle the most efficient means of transportatation? Looking at all means of transportation which include walking/running/skiing, horse/camels/donkeys/ostrich riding,driving cars,riding trains,flying planes and sailing boats.
What do you think engineers?

LittleWheels (Structural) · Answer 1 · 2009-01-18 12:27:05

Yes, amongst human-powered or 'engine-powered' vehicles, the most movement for the least energy input.

Ice yachts and suchlike with an external energy source are a different matter. Is harvesting the wind effectively a nil energy input?

Do you consider the energy of construction an efficiency cost?

drawoh (Mechanical) · Answer 2 · 2009-01-19 14:17:24

chicopee,

Please define "efficiency".

Think of all the energy needed to power the showers people will have to take after they cycle to work and get all hot and sweaty.

JHG

MikeHalloran (Mechanical) · Answer 3 · 2009-01-19 23:14:44

Barge, going downriver.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

jte (Mechanical) · Answer 4 · 2009-01-20 14:12:32

Mike-

How is that different or more efficient than "bicycle going down hill?" Both eventually have to go back up (hill/river) in real life.

jt

MikeHalloran (Mechanical) · Answer 5 · 2009-01-20 18:51:33

The barge carries more.

Moreover, it doesn't have to go back up in one piece. It can be cut up and recycled, or cut into sections and moved up by rail.

If the barge is made of wood, it doesn't have to go upriver at all. Just burn it for fuel or use the lumber for something else, e.g. housing.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

jte (Mechanical) · Answer 6 · 2009-01-21 12:55:50

Ok, ok... But what if I make my bicycle out of wood?

MikeHalloran (Mechanical) · Answer 7 · 2009-01-21 19:31:13

Then it would be every bit as good as The Original Plastic Bicycle.

... Never heard of it, right? That's how good it was.
Some poor saps put a bunch of money into tooling a plastic bicycle frame... with geometry nearly identical to that of a metal frame. Stiffness, not quite the same.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

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Most efficient means of transportatation?