02009-01-29 | Bicycle
The Johns Hopkins Gazette: August 30, 1999
When it comes to efficient use of energy, it’s tough to beat a bike. That’s what Johns Hopkins engineers learned when they aimed an infrared camera at a computer-controlled bicycle drive train in a campus lab. The camera detected heat generated by friction as the chain moved through the sprockets under varying conditions. This heat represented wasted energy, and by measuring it, the engineers were able to identify sources of inefficiency.
In the best test, the chain drive posted an energy efficiency score of 98.6 percent, meaning that less than 2 percent of the power used to turn the front sprocket was lost while being transmitted to the rear one. Even the worst test turned in a respectable 81 percent efficiency score.
Link to the whole piece.
Thanks for the link SM.
02009-01-29 | Ottmar
Clicking on the above photo will take you to the free track in our ListeningLounge. Only available from today until next Wednesday and only available here.
PS: The free track is no longer available.
Related:
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02009-01-28 | Bicycle
On yer bike: Why there’s never been a better time to saddle up – Healthy Living, Health & Wellbeing – The Independent
With just a chain and a couple of cogs linking a rider’s legs to the wheels, hardly any effort goes to waste. The energy efficiency of a bicycle has been estimated to be the equivalent of the average car doing 1,600 miles on a gallon of petrol.
(Via Copenhagenize)
Read the whole article – full of great reasons to ride.
02009-01-28 | Health
BBC NEWS | Health | Are worms vital to human health?
Could the humble worm hold the key to wiping out allergies and a whole lot of disorders of the immune system?
02009-01-28 | Uncategorized
The People at the heart of the Meltdown
*That’s a nice list, but I think the British are flattering themselves here. Britain’s not a global economic heart any more, so its financial practitioners are more in the aorta, the liver or maybe even the kidneys of the Meltdown.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/26/road-ruin-recession-individuals-economy
(Via Beyond the Beyond)