Most Energy Efficient Transport
- Gregers Reimann
- 11 hours ago
- 2 min read
Did you ever wonder, what animal has the most energy efficient movement? Is it a fish swimming the water? A bird or insect flying in the sky? Or animals walking across the land? Interestingly, this famous chart that was first published in the 1970s, also includes the human transportation systems.
Energy efficient transport is defined by how much energy is needed to transport one gram of the animal by one kilometre. The higher on the vertical y-axis, the less energy efficient. On the horizontal x-axis, the weight of the animal is plotted. The higher the weight, the further the right on the scale.
The graph is colour-coded for the different types of transportation modes, namely purple (swimmers), blue (flyers), pink (walkers/runners), and yellow (vehicles). The results are plotted below and also found on this link from the Scientific American magazine: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-human-on-a-bicycle-is-among-the-most-efficient-forms-of-travel-in-the/
Interestingly, the least energy efficient of the animals plotted are mice, which consume almost 50 calories/gram/km. Small insects like fruit flies, flies and bees, are significantly more efficient at 13 calories/gram/km. And other bigger flying creatures like humming birds and sea gulls, are even more energy efficient at 4 and 1.3 calories/gram/km, respectively. Humans are even more efficient at 0.7 calories/gram/km. Not surprisingly, horses are even more energy efficient, namely at 0.52 calories/gram/km. Also not surprising is the fact that fish, that float weightless in the water, is in the energy efficient spectrum of the chart, namely at 0.4 calories/gram/km for salmon. The most efficient mode of transport, however, is a human-made vehicle. No, not car at 0.85 calories/gram/km or a modern commercial jet plane at 0.58 calories/gram/km, but rather the mode of transport that many of us learn how to ride as kids: The bicycle! A human on bicycle has an energy consumption of just 0.14 calories/gram/km. No wonder, the bicycle design has virtually not changed since 1880s, as it is already super energy efficient!
Boost for bicycling infrastructure in Kuala Lumpur?
In recent months, it's been encouraging to see a couple of cover stories in The Star Metro newspaper sections making the case for more bicycling in Kuala Lumpur.
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