The hidden cost we overlooked.

AuthorCoe, Kent H.
PositionFrom Readers - Letter to the Editor

Your Matters of Scale page, "The Hidden Cost of Embodied Energy" [May/June] contains a subtle bias. You claim that a bicyclist will achieve the equivalent of 31 miles to the gallon if he eats meat and 300 mpg if he eats wheat. The motorist driving the Honda Civic would be getting 32 mpg. The bias occurs because you don't include a breakdown of embodied energy for the motorist. The implication is that no matter what a motorist eats, he or she will always get 32 mpg. Shouldn't you have provided a breakdown of the energy that the driver of the car is using, just as you provided the breakdown for the cyclist? In...

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