Howard C. Hayden

A Conspectus on U.S. Energy

An athlete sitting on a bicycle seat can produce about 100 watts of useful power on a long-term basis. After 10 hours, the athlete produces 1000 watt-hours, or one kilowatt-hour (kWh). While some people balk at the notion of having to pay (say) 8.5 cents rather than their present 8 cents for that kilowatt-hour, what would they have to pay the athlete for 10 hours of hard labor? And what would it cost for that kWh if we had to do nothing more than feed the athlete?

Evaluating a Surprising Claim

A television advertisement and a website 1 present an interesting question: can rail company CSX really move a ton of freight 468 miles on a gallon of fuel, or is the claim preposterous? Let us examine the claim, first by understanding what is meant, looking at their data, and then converting units to examine the claim quantitatively.