There is a great movement today in the auto industry to make cars more fuel efficient, so consumers can not only save money on day-to-day travel expenses, but make our nation less reliant on imported oil. This is a good thing, to be sure, but is it enough?

When we take a good look at the energy content of one gallon of gasoline, and compare it to a typical vehicle's “miles-per-gallon” or “m.p.g.” rating, some interesting facts come to light.

For example, one gallon of typical unleaded gasoline contains about 139,000 BTU's of energy (from EIA.gov). Since one Calorie of nutritional energy contains 3.97 BTU's, we can estimate the nutritional Calorie content of a gallon of gas.

139,000 BTU's x (1 Calorie / 3.97 BTU's) = 35,013 Calories per gallon of unleaded gas

And if a typical modern vehicle gets 25 m.p.g., then:

35013 Calories per gallon / 25 miles per gallon = 1401 Calories per mile (C.p.m.)

In other words, it takes two-thirds of one average person's daily recommended caloric intake for a typical car to travel a distance of one mile. A person burns fewer calories in one whole month than a car burns to travel a distance of 50 miles.

Using the Potential Calorie Burn Calculator at cgsnetwork.com, we can estimate how many calories it takes a 170-pound person to travel 25 miles on a bicycle at a leisurely pace. Input “Bicycling, 12-14.5 miles per hour,” for 120 minutes (which would give us a distance gain of roughly 25 miles), and we get a result of 1,236 required nutritional Calories.

Using a similar approach as before, we can estimate the leisurely biker's Calorie requirements per mile of travel, and compare it to the Calorie requirements of the average car for that same mile.

1,236 Calories / 25 miles = 49.5 nutritional Calories per mile at a leisurely pace

That is quite a difference! We can see from this data that a person riding a bicycle is 28 times as efficient as the typical American car burning unleaded gasoline.

Even if the leisurely rider decides to haul some ass, and rides the same 25 miles at 20 m.p.h., the potential Calorie burn calculator shows a Calorie requirement of 1,545, taking a much shorter time of 75 minutes. This is still more than 22 times as efficient as the car, for riding hard at this speed still requires only 61.8 Calories per mile.

In fact, using the Calorie content of gasoline, we can estimate the biker's m.p.g. equivalent, in terms of energy consumption. Since there are 35,013 Calories in a gallon of gas, and the guy riding hard is burning 61.8 Calories per mile, he is getting the energy equivalent of 567 miles per gallon, which still works out to be more than 22 times as efficient as the car.

Now, I know what you're thinking. “This guy's an idiot, because he's obviously biased towards biking, and he's ignoring the fact that the car will carry more people, etc. over the same distance in a much shorter amount of time, so the car gains efficiency points there.”

You got me, it's true. But, the bicycle and its rider are still consuming negligible amounts of gasoline. In fact, the only oil-based products a bicycle requires are a few drops of occasional lube on the chain, some grease here and there to lubricate various parts, and the energy that was consumed during its manufacture – which is far less than the energy required to produce a passenger vehicle.

And my car doesn't benefit my health and fitness, not even a little. So the car, that burns so much energy that America has to import from unstable regions halfway around the world, really doesn't do anything good for me. But bear in mind, I still own it, I am not trying to say you're evil if you have a car in your garage.

My car is great for “special trips,” like hauling the gang up north for a weekend of camping, or going cross-country for a weekend with the family. In these situations, bicycle travel is not the most appropriate choice, only because time restrictions don't allow for it. But those trips don't come by more than a few times per year.

Where the bike really shines is in the day-to-day travels of the average person. That short drive to work, the quick run to the store... these are where the bike is most valuable to our American way of life. This is where we are most wasteful.

In short, the human body is an incredibly efficient energy consumer, and can travel for long distances, even well after the mind starts to think, “I am tired.” When a car runs out of gasoline, it doesn't go anywhere, and the driver is forced to resort to the most ancient form of human-powered transport in order to obtain more fuel for his or her immobilized vehicle – walking.

And walking is for suckers.

Part Two - Cost Efficiency

Still not convinced? Okay, let's ignore the energy consumption part. That stuff is for scientists and engineers anyways, and I'm a hack at one and not even close to being the other. Let's get into the numbers that actually mean something to everyone – the ones with dollar signs preceding them.

I will use myself as an example.

I bought my bike, shiny and brand new, for around $350. Since then, I have added some things to help my comfort level, and make the bike itself more utilitarian. All in all, I probably have $700 invested in it; and that includes racks, panniers, three sets of tires, spare parts and tools, lights, a computer, and a comfortable gel seat. I don't own any special, bike-specific clothing, just normal garments that I already own for everything else I do outside (contrary to popular belief, I am on a crusade against Spandex).

That seems like a lot of money, until I consider what I paid for my car. I bought my car for $4,200, and it costs me around $630 per year to insure. All in all, I estimate that it costs me less than $20 per year to own and operate my bike. It costs me at least $2,000 per year to own and operate my car, including fuel and basic upkeep. And let's not forget that my car had an initial cost of $4,200.

Already, you can see where this is going. My bike's total costs are about the same as what it costs me to insure my truck for a year, and its only real costs of operation are in food for me, which I assure you, I would be buying anyways. I haven't had to replace any parts aside from a few inner tubes ($4.95 apiece), and periodic lubrication and cleaning ($6.25 for degreaser, and $3.99 for chain lube).