The data also ignores the fact that walking leads to a healthier lifestyle which means living longer, which is more costly than not living longer.
Yes, and one should also account for the reduced tax burden of dying younger.
Walking a mile is 3x more expensive than driving, from a fuel perspective
21–30 of 97 posts
Re: Walking a mile is 3x more expensive than driving, from a fuel perspective
#22The math on walking, at least, seems little off: 210 calories per hour divided by 2.5 miles per hour is 84 calories per mile, which is about 23.5¢ per mile. Also the cost of driving should really use the average fleet fuel economy of a country together with the fuel price in that country. That works out to a hair under 10¢ per mile for 2014 fuel economy and today's gas prices. The takeaways remain the same, though: H…
I think the math should also include cost of auto infrastructure, vehicle deprecation, and the reduced health care costs if you walk.
Re: Walking a mile is 3x more expensive than driving, from a fuel perspective
#23The math on walking, at least, seems little off: 210 calories per hour divided by 2.5 miles per hour is 84 calories per mile, which is about 23.5¢ per mile. Also the cost of driving should really use the average fleet fuel economy of a country together with the fuel price in that country. That works out to a hair under 10¢ per mile for 2014 fuel economy and today's gas prices. The takeaways remain the same, though: H…
I think the math should also include cost of auto infrastructure, vehicle deprecation, and the reduced health care costs if you walk.
Re: Walking a mile is 3x more expensive than driving, from a fuel perspective
#24This should not really be very surprising as walking is not very efficient. You should be comparing driving to cycling, as both are wheeled forms of transportation. Cycling is up to 5x more efficient than walking ( https://www.exploratorium.edu/cycling/humanpower1.html ) So, if you compare driving to cycling, cycling wins hands down. And, this is with the artificially low cost of fossil fuels. If fossil fuels properl…
> Cycling is up to 5x more efficient than walking
"Up to" doesn't mean much. Biking is explicitly considered in the original piece:
> Surprisingly, from a pure energy perspective (using the methodology mentioned above), biking, walking, and running are the three most expensive types of transportation listed
Re: Walking a mile is 3x more expensive than driving, from a fuel perspective
#25Not all fuel consumption is the same. Gasoline is way under-priced in the US when traffic, pollution and road construction costs are factored in. On the other hand, high quality, sustainably farmed produce is overpriced, most significantly from sustained subsidies for corn and the associated increase in the cost of arable land.
There is also the cost of getting the food to you. Often the most efficiently produced food will be produced some distance from you and a surprisingly large fraction of the cost will be shipping.
Re: Walking a mile is 3x more expensive than driving, from a fuel perspective
#26Of course, this assumes that you're perfectly fit already and that every calorie burned translates into additional consumption.
For the vast majority of Americans, that assumption is incorrect. From personal experience, it's actually the opposite: I eat less on the days where I go for a long walk.
Re: Walking a mile is 3x more expensive than driving, from a fuel perspective
#27Except your food expenditures are a sunk cost, and you can't replace them with fuel expenditures. This is literally comparing apples and gasoline.
Your food expenditures vary with the amount of work you do, no different than your car's fuel expenditures. They are most certainly not a sunk cost for this purpose.
Re: Walking a mile is 3x more expensive than driving, from a fuel perspective
#28This is a good point, petrol is clearly way too cheap.
(We have of course long improved on bicycles. An ultra aero lowracer recumbent can get 30mph on 120W, covering the 100k for a mere 1kWh at average 25% efficiency)
Re: Walking a mile is 3x more expensive than driving, from a fuel perspective
#29This should not really be very surprising as walking is not very efficient. You should be comparing driving to cycling, as both are wheeled forms of transportation. Cycling is up to 5x more efficient than walking ( https://www.exploratorium.edu/cycling/humanpower1.html ) So, if you compare driving to cycling, cycling wins hands down. And, this is with the artificially low cost of fossil fuels. If fossil fuels properl…
Did you read the article? They compare bicycling too.
Also, a lot of fossil fuels are used grow and transport food the food you eat. It's not immediately obvious to me that the fossil fuel impact of growing the food, transporting it, and packaging it is less than the fuel to move a car in the first place.
Re: Walking a mile is 3x more expensive than driving, from a fuel perspective
#30This should not really be very surprising as walking is not very efficient. You should be comparing driving to cycling, as both are wheeled forms of transportation. Cycling is up to 5x more efficient than walking ( https://www.exploratorium.edu/cycling/humanpower1.html ) So, if you compare driving to cycling, cycling wins hands down. And, this is with the artificially low cost of fossil fuels. If fossil fuels properl…
Do you think the fossil fuel subsidies benefit the agriculture industry hence also making for cheaper food?