{"id":2125,"date":"2013-05-27T21:28:23","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T20:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=2125"},"modified":"2013-06-27T15:52:53","modified_gmt":"2013-06-27T14:52:53","slug":"cycling-the-answer-to-peak-oil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=2125","title":{"rendered":"Cycling- the answer to peak oil?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"bikes<\/a>

bikes parked in Amsterdam<\/p><\/div>\n

The first thing to say is no its not.\u00a0 As we made implicit (if not explicit) in our book there is no single answer to peak oil.\u00a0 Is it part of the answer?\u00a0 For sure.\u00a0 Transport is without doubt the biggest single user of oil since very few use it to generate electricity any more apart from the Saudis.\u00a0 Cars, planes and trains (almost the title of a film) use vast amounts.<\/p>\n

I’ve cycled for years, first in London as a student (no helmet).\u00a0 I was only knocked off once, but it was terrifying looking back on it.\u00a0 I’ve been knocked a few times since but still pedal almost everywhere I can in Edinburgh.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 That’s a question I keep asking myself as cars pass me on both sides.\u00a0 I do it partly for ecological reasons (including that of oil supply), partly for health reasons but mostly because its enjoyable and quicker than driving.\u00a0 For journeys for which I sometimes drive its about 2-3 times as fast.\u00a0 Its also easy to park.<\/p>\n

Electrifying almost all road transport as well as almost all space heating is going to take very large amounts of investment in new renewable generation and a certain amount of new infrastructure (everything from charging points for cars to grid reinforcement).\u00a0 None of this is likely to be cheap, neither are electric cars at present.\u00a0 All this and higher oil prices in the short term means cycling should be making a comeback.\u00a0 It is.<\/p>\n

In London when I went to the paralympics I was amazed how many more people were cycling compared with my last visit.\u00a0 In Edinburgh surveys done by the pressure group Spokes suggest that the number of journeys to work made by bike is on a long term upward trend.\u00a0 This is because local government has been supportive.\u00a0 In Edinburgh successive councils have built cycle lanes, put in bike racks and allowed cyclists other advantages such as to turn right or left where cars cannot for example.\u00a0 In London both Ken Livingston (who didn’t cycle) and Boris (who cycles regularly after a fashion) have made cycling a central plank of their political platforms.\u00a0 However, we are years behind the rest of Europe.\u00a0 Amsterdam where the picture above was taken on a holiday was a revelation but Germany where we went next was even more impressive.\u00a0 Every road had tarmacked cycle lanes on either side and even in the country they were in constant use as young and old cycled along them in the heat.\u00a0 And its these off road cycle lanes we need to build to really get cycling moving.<\/p>\n

Politicians don’t seem to get it here.\u00a0 This blog post was started off in my mind by the “pedal on Parliament” demo.\u00a0 The Scottish Government talk the talk but when it comes to action its all new roads.\u00a0 Building cycle lanes is expensive, but compared to the cost of a new road its peanuts.\u00a0 They need to accept the oil price is never going to come down and radically think their transport policy.\u00a0 Lastly we should remember that electric cars only solve two problems related to cars oil depletion and pollution.\u00a0 The others such as safety and visual intrusion, traffic jams etc. are the same whatever powers it.\u00a0 Truly civilised cities have cycling and walking at their core.<\/p>\n

Neil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first thing to say is no its not.\u00a0 As we made implicit (if not explicit) in our book there is no single answer to peak oil.\u00a0 Is it part of the answer?\u00a0 For sure.\u00a0 Transport is without doubt the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,3,23,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling","category-peak-oil","category-slow-living","category-transition"],"yoast_head":"\nIs cycling part of the answer to peak oil?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is cycling part of the answer to peak oil? No but its part of the answer. 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