Earth & climate · the experiment
Put your city where climbing costs the least
Redo the paper's calculation: what a climb costs a car, then what a whole city costs as you slide it across its terrain.
1 · Go up, come down, drive home
Beginner
In the paper's equation (1), what does a downhill stretch give back?
A 30 m hill stands between your home and your work, 2 km away. Drive there and back, and watch the climb counter.
2 · The price of one metre of climbing
The paper's car: λ = η E_l c, with 25% of the 36 MJ in a litre of fuel, at 6.5 L per 100 km; m = 1,200 kg.
Intermediate
With λ = 585 J/m and m = 1,200 kg, one metre of climbing costs as much as how many metres on the flat?
A road goes around the 30 m hill. Lengthen the detour until it costs as much energy as the road over the top, to within 1%.
3 · Slide the city across its terrain
The city on the map is schematic: its streets, trips, terrain and lake are made up to put the mechanism to the test. The amber segments carry the climbing work.
Intermediate
You shift the whole network by 250 m, with the same trips. Which part of the energy W changes most?
This schematic city is not in its best spot. Shift it east or west, in steps of 250 m as in the paper, and find the position where its trips cost the least.
4 · House 25,000 people in Barcelona
The team added 25,000 residents to one of five candidate blocks with similar travel distances.
Expert
The extra 46 GJ of climbing each day is worth how much flat driving per new resident?
Show the best and the worst of the five sites, and see where the gap comes from.
City placed
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