Affect Change

Friday, May 12, 2006

Energy Perspective Part 3

One of the major campaigns to save energy has been the "Bike to Work" program. I think it's a perfectly valid campaign and if enough people did it we might see the effect in terms of gasoline consumption, monetary retention and physical fitness (maybe even roadway safety). The one big thing about biking to work is that it really puts it all into perspective (at least for me). You see I have one hell of a ride to work. The trip is maybe 3 miles; however, there are three significant hills (Cattaraugus St, Beech Tree Rd, and Watson Rd) that make this ride excruciating. As I struggled my way up one of these hills I tried justifying my agony in my head. ("If I ride to work and back and it's six miles and my car gets ~24 mpg then every four days I save a gallon. Great I saved $0.75 today, this sucks") The thing that gets me is that I'm just pedaling ~200lbs up the hill. When the car does it, it's pushing roughly 10 times that amount. That's a whole lot of energy being used to get my late and lazy ass to work.

I also feel justified in drinking a cold one when I get home. Hello hydration.


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