Peak Oil, Recumbent Bicycles, and The Apocalypse
So there is quite a worry in the scientific community today about a concept known as "peak oil". If you haven't heard this term before, what it means is that a bunch of geologists, physicists, and other smart people have derived that we have passed the peak of oil production for the history of Earth, and are now on the downslope. Basically, they say there will be less and less oil each year, while our demands for it increase from year to year. This results in an exponentially growing difference in our supply/demand on that market, and essentially means that we need to be looking for alternatives...if you take a look at this website: http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/, you can see just how worried some of these people are. (note that their science is a bit off in a lot of places, as far as their statements about natural gas use, ammonia production, etc.)
Honestly, I think these people sit around and look for things they can make a hubbub about, get some scientific background, and tell us a la Weekly World News that yes, when we run out of oil, we will all die, the sun will stop shining, the Earth will stop spinning, all the technology that we ever had before will disappear, France will rule the world, there will be 19 apocalyptic wars over the last 4 barrels of oil, the world as we know it will turn to one big barren desert, and we will digress back to the unicellular organisms from which we are supposed to have evolved.
Sure, we may be running out of oil, and yes, running out of oil has some big implications...but we have plenty of minds and plenty of hands and plenty of research to find alternatives to fossil-fuel powered transportation (which consumes the largest portion of oil output each year), even in the short time these people say we might have left to do so.
One viable option to limit the guzzlement (yes, I just made that word up) of oil is to ban vehicles like the bling-bling Escalades parading around town, and the 4 ton dualies all the urban cowboys just love. My favorite part of the concept behind these vehicles is that the car manufacturer designs the thing to suit the typical urbanite who has never set foot on a mountain, but they need 350 horsepower, 4 wheel drive, and 77 cup holders so they can get the groceries home ( a 2 mile, all-paved trip). They will never go off-road, they will never climb a mountain with their SUV...they're wary to drive the thing through a muddy puddle, lest we get some dirt on the shiny CroMo bumper. They just want to know that they CAN.
The problem lies in the way people tend to buy things. 10 years ago, SUV's were practically non-existent. Now everyone wants one because pop culture states you are officially awesome if your automobile frame is higher than that of the next guy, or if your rims keep turning when your wheels don't....look! Something shiny! Would you rather have a Geo Metro, or a Hummer H2? This tendency to buy what is popular on the market will keep most Americans from exploring more efficient options (as far as transportation is concerned, anyhow).
One option that many other countries of the world are already beginning to actively explore is known as a velomobile...essentially a human-powered car (fully enclosed, etc.). Obviously, now, we're not going to pedal from Athens to Cleveland all the time, but as for getting around town, or getting to work, etc. (where gas mileage is lowest) it's certainly an attractive option. There is an ongoing tech project online (in wiki style, or open-source....anyone can put their input so we may all work as a team, without knowing each other at all) known as the Open Source Velomobile Project, whose goal is to increase the visibility, market, and eventually wide-scale use of these machines to save gas, money, and perhaps even a life or two.
I am currently developing plans for a recumbent trike (a very fast, very odd-looking beast) that I plan to begin construction on in about 2 weeks. It will be in the tadpole style (two wheels in the front, one wheel in the back), made out of spare parts from old bikes and frames, and some cheap stock tube steel. I hope to have the construction completed sometime early this summer, so hopefully you will all see me flying down the bike path at 40 miles an hour with reckless abandon. Once I get some drawings developed, I'll upload a javascript viewer here so all of you can take a look at what I'm working on.
Honestly, I think these people sit around and look for things they can make a hubbub about, get some scientific background, and tell us a la Weekly World News that yes, when we run out of oil, we will all die, the sun will stop shining, the Earth will stop spinning, all the technology that we ever had before will disappear, France will rule the world, there will be 19 apocalyptic wars over the last 4 barrels of oil, the world as we know it will turn to one big barren desert, and we will digress back to the unicellular organisms from which we are supposed to have evolved.
Sure, we may be running out of oil, and yes, running out of oil has some big implications...but we have plenty of minds and plenty of hands and plenty of research to find alternatives to fossil-fuel powered transportation (which consumes the largest portion of oil output each year), even in the short time these people say we might have left to do so.
One viable option to limit the guzzlement (yes, I just made that word up) of oil is to ban vehicles like the bling-bling Escalades parading around town, and the 4 ton dualies all the urban cowboys just love. My favorite part of the concept behind these vehicles is that the car manufacturer designs the thing to suit the typical urbanite who has never set foot on a mountain, but they need 350 horsepower, 4 wheel drive, and 77 cup holders so they can get the groceries home ( a 2 mile, all-paved trip). They will never go off-road, they will never climb a mountain with their SUV...they're wary to drive the thing through a muddy puddle, lest we get some dirt on the shiny CroMo bumper. They just want to know that they CAN.
The problem lies in the way people tend to buy things. 10 years ago, SUV's were practically non-existent. Now everyone wants one because pop culture states you are officially awesome if your automobile frame is higher than that of the next guy, or if your rims keep turning when your wheels don't....look! Something shiny! Would you rather have a Geo Metro, or a Hummer H2? This tendency to buy what is popular on the market will keep most Americans from exploring more efficient options (as far as transportation is concerned, anyhow).
One option that many other countries of the world are already beginning to actively explore is known as a velomobile...essentially a human-powered car (fully enclosed, etc.). Obviously, now, we're not going to pedal from Athens to Cleveland all the time, but as for getting around town, or getting to work, etc. (where gas mileage is lowest) it's certainly an attractive option. There is an ongoing tech project online (in wiki style, or open-source....anyone can put their input so we may all work as a team, without knowing each other at all) known as the Open Source Velomobile Project, whose goal is to increase the visibility, market, and eventually wide-scale use of these machines to save gas, money, and perhaps even a life or two.
I am currently developing plans for a recumbent trike (a very fast, very odd-looking beast) that I plan to begin construction on in about 2 weeks. It will be in the tadpole style (two wheels in the front, one wheel in the back), made out of spare parts from old bikes and frames, and some cheap stock tube steel. I hope to have the construction completed sometime early this summer, so hopefully you will all see me flying down the bike path at 40 miles an hour with reckless abandon. Once I get some drawings developed, I'll upload a javascript viewer here so all of you can take a look at what I'm working on.
posted by TJ at 10:00 AM
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