Author: Richard Masoner

USA energy use widget

Richard MasonerDecember 12, 20074 Comments on USA energy use widget

Here’s a widget for your blog or website. If you’re viewing this in a blog reader you’ll probably need to hit the permalink to view this properly

The US spent 0 this year on imported fossil fuels.

EIA 2006 data.
Get this widget. Cyclelicious


I grabbed the code from the Sightline Institute Pacific Northwest energy counter and changed the numbers to reflect what the United States as a nation spent on fossil fuel imports in 2006. This data is from the US Energy Information Administration. Yes, we really did send nearly a billion dollars every day to foreign banks.

You can grab this widget for use on your own website. If you use the Javascript on my server, you must link back to Cyclelicious. You’re also free to copy the Javascript to your own server and use it unencumbered, if you wish. Here’s a handy 180px widget that you can copy into your blog our website. If you post this to something like Blogger.com and have auto linebreaks enabled (most people do), be careful that each of the two lines that begin “<script>” all remain one line! Don’t worry about how this code bleeds way over there on this page — it should cut and paste just fine. 

<div style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background:darkblue;width:180px;margin:2px;padding:4px;border:solid black 1px;"> <h3 align="center" style="margin-top: 14px; font-size: 14px; color: white;">The US spent <span id="total" style="color:gray">0</span> this year on imported fossil fuels.</h3> <span style="font-size:8pt;color:white;">EIA 2006 data.</span><br /> <a style="font-size:10pt;margin:auto;color:white;" href="http://www.cyclelicio.us/2007/12/usa-energy-use-widget.html">Get this widget.</a> <a style="font-size:10pt;margin:auto;color:white;" href="http://www.cyclelicio.us/">Cyclelicious</a> </div>
<script language="JavaScript" src="http://www.cyclelicio.us/script/energy.js"> </script> 
<script language="JavaScript"> startClock() </script>
Posted In Uncategorized

Random bicycle news

Richard MasonerDecember 12, 20072 Comments on Random bicycle news

Time to catch up on some links.

Photo “Pizza delivery by bicycle” by Matty Lang and used with permission. More bicycle news below…

I have a bus haiku. It’s a true story. 

       White pigeon swoops low.
       Bird dodges highway traffic.
       Thud on bus windshield.

CenterLines is the newsletter of the U.S. National Center for Bicycling & Walking. Here are some tidbits from the December 12 issue.

Oh, by the way, I have a Facebook account or profile or whatever you want to call it. If you know my real name feel free to look me up.

US Pacific Northwest Energy Spending Today: 0



Posted In news

European Cyclelicious meetup

Richard MasonerDecember 12, 20074 Comments on European Cyclelicious meetup

Yours truly will be traveling around Europe for three weeks starting at the end of this month and I would like to meet some of our Cyclelicious readers around the world! If you are a reader from any of the following countries, please email me at CycleliciousMike@gmail.com and let’s work on meeting up. You’ll even be featured on this site!

The areas I will be visiting are:

  • Copenhagen, Denmark (December 28)
  • Helsinki and Rovaniemi, Finland (December 29 – January 2)
  • Tallinn, Estonia (January 3-4)
  • Riga, Latvia (January 5)
  • Vilnius, Lithuania (January 6)
  • Warsaw, Poland (January 7)
  • London, England (January 8)
  • Edinburgh, Scotland (January 9)
  • Dublin, Ring of Kerry, Galway, and Shannon, Ireland (January 10-17)

I hope to meet some of our global readers! Contact me if you are willing to meet up!

Posted In Uncategorized

San Francisco bike plan rally

Richard MasonerDecember 11, 2007Leave a Comment

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and other cyclist activists rallied today on the steps of city hall to protest the sluggish progress of the court-mandated environmental review of the city bike plan.

The city revealed recently that the review would not be complete until 2009, with expected implementation of the bike plan on hold until 2010.


Roughly 100 people showed up as San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Leah Shahum spoke encouraging city leaders to put a larger priority on the bike plan. The SFBC continues to encourage cyclists to contact Mayor Gavin Newsom and the city supervisors to urge them to speed up implementation of the bike plan.

Read more:

Posted In san francisco

Economist says ‘Don’t worry, be happy’

Richard MasonerDecember 11, 20078 Comments on Economist says ‘Don’t worry, be happy’

Dr.Thomas Palley is a Yale educated published economist. I’m just a guy who blogs about bikes. He’s evidently a smart guy, but I think Palley misses the point in his essay in Foreign Policy in which he reassures investors that the U.S. dollar will remain the reserve currency of choice around the world. In spite of a growing chorus of doubt around the world on the value of the dollar, Palley tells us that the falling dollar is merely a correction rather than a symptom of something fundamental about the world economy. Here’s what he writes:

  • “With an annual GDP of more than $13 trillion and with efficient, liquid capital markets, the U.S. economy operates on a scale and with a vitality that is unmatched.” The U.S. economy runs on oil. With fossil fuel in permanent decline around the world, U.S. productivity will fall dramatically in the near future.
  • “Many countries can’t generate enough domestic consumption to spur growth and full employment, forcing them to rely on exports [to the United States].” Our market economy is an economy of excess. We buy TVs from Malaysia and bikes from Taiwan because we have so much extra left over for consumer “stuff.” Again, this excess is driven completely by cheap energy inputs into our economy. Conservation and innovation may mitigate the damage (which is why I’m so gung ho about limiting inefficient transportation modes), but the fact is that our economy will stagnate. Permanently.
  • I think Palley also ignores the fundamental fact that the US dollar is a fiat currency — the US Federal Reserve prints as much as it needs, and its value is underpinned by the requirement that almost all international oil sales are denominated in U.S. dollars. If enough oil producing nations are willing to sell their oil in euros or yuan or pesos, then that will be the end of the American dollar. Palley’s “buyer of last resort” theory won’t hold water when U.S. consumers can no longer afford to buy plasma TVs and plastic knick knacks.

I think every nation that depends heavily on imported oil has significant economic challenges, and these challenges are coming sooner rather than later. The mother of all paradigm shifts will soon be on us, but with increased awareness of our reliance on a scarce resource I’m hopeful we can rise to the challenge to soften the landing.

Posted In peak oil

Link to Biking Bis and give for flood relief

Richard MasonerDecember 11, 2007Leave a Comment

The recent storms in the U.S. Pacific Northwest caused flooding and up to $1 billion in damages to a portion of the I-5 corridor between Seattle and Portland this last week. The Cascade Bicycle Club has pledged to match the first $2,500 in donations that come in (which has already been surpassed!) for flood relief in the Centralia/Chehalis area. Biking Bis will also give $5 to the relief effort for each of the first 20 links to his story on this relief effort. Link away and get the word out, bloggers!

You can give online with a credit/debit card or mail your donation to the United Way of Lewis County — details are at Biking Bis. Don’t forget also to hit your employer up for matching funds if they have a giving program; many of them have a minimum amount they’ll match so check the policy before you cheap out and give only $20. This is the season for giving, and these folks probably need your help more than you need that widescreen flat panel HDTV you’ve been eyeballing.

Posted In Uncategorized