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qole is offline qole
2008-06-20 , 16:06
Moderator | Posts: 7,109 | Thanked: 8,820 times | Joined on Oct 2007 @ Vancouver, BC, Canada
#71
Originally Posted by Texrat View Post
If only I could. None of those are options for me, sadly... especially the bike. As much as I'd like to get back to bike riding, I don't think I'd survive on highway 114 for long...

I did try riding my bike to work years ago, when I was just 2 miles from work. <horror stories snipped>
So, no thanks to the bike riding. Our town removed our bike lanes a few years ago so more cars could use the road. Typical Texas.
I want to say that your story doesn't sound normal. Are people in Texas so much more aggressive and mean that they would crowd a bike with a child on the back, or run a guy off the road?

I ride about 8 miles to work, and I have to say, even here in "bike friendly" Vancouver (they had a city-sponsored "Bike to Work Week" in May and June is "Bike Month") it can get a bit crazy. I've gone over the hood of a truck once, and I've had lots of close calls. But even after that, I still believe that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

I've found that the best thing to do as a bike rider is keep a low profile (plain clothes -- no gaudy racing shirts, and never mess with drivers, they've got the bigger stick). Keep off of the main roads (even if it adds some distance to your route), and wear a helmet.

I have co-workers who ride twice as far as me, over a busy bridge. They've both been riding for more than 5 years in all kinds of weather and they've had very few mishaps, none of them serious.
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Karel Jansens is offline Karel Jansens
2008-06-20 , 16:13
Posts: 3,220 | Thanked: 326 times | Joined on Oct 2005 @ "Almost there!" (Monte Christo, Count of)
#72
If you want cheap gas, do what they do in Europe: Find a large enough bunch of fellow terrorists and paralyze an entire country (don't forget calling it a "strike" though; that's important).

Hey presto! cheap gas from lardass government.
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qole is offline qole
2008-06-20 , 16:17
Moderator | Posts: 7,109 | Thanked: 8,820 times | Joined on Oct 2007 @ Vancouver, BC, Canada
#73
Originally Posted by Jerome View Post
Amusing info: when in China, I was quite surprised to find out that they Chinese already use electric scooters. You won't find combustion engine scooters in large cities in China. Electric transport is perfectly doable with present technology.
There's lots of electric scooters here in Vancouver too. They annoy me because they go really fast, and they often drive on bike paths which are shared with pedestrians. Look out! People scattering and jumping into the bushes...

Also lots of those little Smart cars, and lots of hybrids. In fact, I think there's a government subsidy for taxi companies that use hybrids, because 90% of our taxi fleets have gone hybrid over the last 5 years. I even see big courier trucks (FedEx?) with big signs saying they are hybrid. Vancouver also has one of the only remaining electric trolley fleets in North America. They don't run on tracks, and they look like busses, but they're powered from overhead lines, so they're actually trolleys. We get almost all of our electricity from hydro-electric generators, too, so we're a pretty green city, overall.
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joepagiii is offline joepagiii
2008-06-20 , 16:24
Posts: 449 | Thanked: 51 times | Joined on Apr 2008 @ eastern north carolina usa
#74
guess i need to get a horse
maybe more than 1
course a horse is more brown than green...
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sondjata is offline sondjata
2008-06-20 , 16:29
Posts: 1,076 | Thanked: 176 times | Joined on Mar 2007
#75
Once a week I bike to work. 12.5 one way with 3 very steep hills. Yes US drivers are very aggressive. A lot of people at my job, while they smile at my weekly biking, won't do it. They are severely out of shape and I personally fear that they would collapse from the effort. Remember, this is a country that won't drive manual transmissions because it's too much work.
 
joepagiii's Avatar
joepagiii is offline joepagiii
2008-06-20 , 16:54
Posts: 449 | Thanked: 51 times | Joined on Apr 2008 @ eastern north carolina usa
#76
this is one of the arguments me and my wife have on a regular basis she works 5 minutes from home and could conceivably bike to work...but she wont because the front desk office worker in a doctors office should be clean and presentable ...me on the other hand my service calls range from 25-50 miles from home( warranty repair lcd tvs etc) i want to get a small motorcycle or even a scooter to share for both...my ailing pick up(bad tranny) only gets regular use whene i need to haul wood the other vehicle we have is a minivan... id love to hear some good arguments for the motorcycle/moped ??? any advise...alot of you guys are probably way better schooled or read...
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Jerome is offline Jerome
2008-06-20 , 20:17
Posts: 477 | Thanked: 118 times | Joined on Dec 2005 @ Munich, Germany
#77
Originally Posted by IcelandDreams View Post
It is always more efficient to generate energy on a large scale under controlled conditions for a large number of end users than it is to generate it for the same users individually while tooling down the road.
As usual, it is a little more complicated than that. Generating electricity in a large plant is more efficient, but transporting electricity takes a toll, and batteries are not 100% efficient either.


We can also supplement the grid with smaller plants in places that can.
This is already done in more places than you think. Germany, for example, subsidizes solar cells if you sell your excess electricity back to the grid (at fixed prices). Italy had a project where people, instead of just burning fuel to heat their home, ran a generator, sold the electricity to the grid, and used the waste heat. New Zealand has an industry of gas turbines for the same type of use (but more powerful).


Hydrogen for example doesn't require some massive infrastructure change, it can be produced on the spot if the base fuels and energy is readily available nearby.
Oh yes it does. Hydrogen is wastefull to produce, and a nightmare to store.

In some cases geothermal fields and abundant water make that a better choice.
Geothermy use is increasing (and more common than you think).

Not electricity plants necessarily but district heating and cooling systems make a lot of sense. An old idea that can be the better idea. Why have a water heater in your house or business when that hot water can be pumped to you along side the cold water and other utilities?
Already the norm in many large German cities (that is how my house is heated, actually, and they are replacing the pipes down the street as I write: they are old and worn out).



You see: most of these technologies are already readily available...
 
Oberon85 is offline Oberon85
2008-06-20 , 20:49
Posts: 76 | Thanked: 8 times | Joined on Mar 2008 @ Friday Harbor, WA, USA
#78
Just for comparison, I manage a gas station/convenience store/video store/deli, and we are on an island in the North Puget Sound (WA, USA) Unleaded regular is 4.809 gallon today...
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devaler is offline devaler
2008-06-20 , 21:07
Posts: 122 | Thanked: 23 times | Joined on Oct 2007 @ A quiet place.
#79
Hey joepagiii, your wife could always take a change of clothes to work and change when she gets in. It's what I do when I bike, and toweling the sweat off before putting the clean clothes on is great for preventing that sweaty smell. At least, it's worked for me

(also lives in NC)
Last edited by devaler; 2008-06-20 at 21:09.
 
qole's Avatar
qole is offline qole
2008-06-20 , 22:39
Moderator | Posts: 7,109 | Thanked: 8,820 times | Joined on Oct 2007 @ Vancouver, BC, Canada
#80
Originally Posted by Oberon85 View Post
Just for comparison, I manage a gas station/convenience store/video store/deli, and we are on an island in the North Puget Sound (WA, USA) Unleaded regular is 4.809 gallon today...
Just across the border in Vancouver, we're paying about $5.509 (USD) per gallon. ($1.48 / litre ... that may be low, that was a couple of days ago). Gas is so cheap in the USA.
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