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VK2AAB > FUEL 03.04.09 05:21l 76 Lines 4004 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 781_VK2AAB
Read: GUEST
Subj: Pedal Power vs Petrol
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VK2AAB
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From: VK2AAB@VK2AAB.#SYD.NSW.AUS.OC
To : FUEL@WW
Hello All,
This article brings you up sharp when you fill your car.
Here is the link to the original article complete with photographs.
http://anz.theoildrum.com/node/5248#more
Regarding Earth Hour, I am reliably informed that the electricity network
controllers had to hunt around for some additional loads to keep the
generating plant at the normal load.
Oh well, I suppose they had fun.
73 Barry VK2AAB
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Pedal Power Measured in Oil
Posted by Phil Hart on April 1, 2009 - 9:45am in The Oil Drum: Australia/New
Zealand
Topic: Demand/Consumption
Tags: bicycling, micro-generation [list all tags]
I was part of a team 'Greenfleet and Friends' that pedalled four bicycles for
an hour to help generate electricity to power the 'Earth Hour' concert in
Melbourne. This is a great event to raise awareness of how much energy we use
(waste), but thinking about the energy we generated on the bikes in terms of
its petrol/gasoline equivalence is pretty confronting.
Using Bikes to Power Melbourne's Earth Hour Concert
The Melbourne Earth Hour Concert is Australia's signature Earth Hour event for
2009! This concert is unique in Australian history because it will be people
powered by the Future Spark Team Challenge.
To power this amazing concert, we are holding the City Switch Future Spark
Team Challenge! The power will be achieved by YOU riding bikes on a trailer
that are hooked up to custom made electricity generators. So basically by
pedalling on some bikes you will create clean energy which will be used to
power the concert.
Every team entered gets 4 bikes for one hour. Your team gets to pedal to
generate as much electricity as possible. Each team can have between 4 and 10
people so you can change if you get tired. Teams can see exactly how much
power they have contributed on the screen monitors and your team will appear
on the honour roll and leaders board.
By pedalling four bicycles for an hour on Friday 27th March, my team of
Greenfleet and Friends generated 463Wh (Watt-hours), contributing towards the
50,000Wh needed to power the Earth Hour concert held in Melbourne on Saturday
28th March. Greenfleet's performance was well above average, but not quite in
the same league as several teams that generated over 600Wh.
You can see all the team stats on the Future Spark website:
power.futurespark.com.au
Now considering that a litre of petrol stores 10kWh (10,000 Wh) of energy, one
hour spent pedalling four bicycles generates about as much energy as is stored
in just three tablespoons of petrol (gasoline)! Looking at it another way,
each bike was generating energy at the rate of about one small drip of oil per
minute.
Those fairly confronting statistics should teach us two important lessons:
* Crude oil and refined products like petrol/gasoline are incredibly energy
rich fuels. We should place a much greater value on them, and not just because
of the CO2 emissions they generate.
* Cycling is a supremely efficient means of transport. Reducing oil and energy
use means adapting to a range of much smaller and lighter vehicles, whether
they are electric vehicles or human powered, or a bit of both.
Well over a hundred teams spent a week pedalling over a dozen bikes to
generate 50kWh (kilo Watt-hours) for the Earth Hour concert. Five litres (~1.3
gallons) of fossil fuel stores the same amount of energy, an amount most
people would burn in their cars almost every day without thinking about it.
[See comment from Engineer Poet: Because an engine is only around 30%
efficient, it would actually require about 3 * 5 = 15 litres (4 gallons) to
yield 50kWh in terms of work output, as opposed to the 50kWh of stored
chemical energy in the five litres.]
So next time you're filling up your car, take a moment to think about the
fantastic amount of energy you just put in your tank, because that is why good
alternatives to oil are hard to find.
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