Truck transportation has an energy cost of 0.76 kcal kg-1 km-1, and it is about 3700 km from San Francisco to Toronto.
If a romaine lettuce grown near SF has a specific energy content of 17.0 kcal (100g)-1 and the diesel-powered truck has a payload of 20,000 lbs, calculate the ratio of the amount of energy spent in transportation to the amount of energy delivered in the product.
So from what i understand i have done this but im not sure if this is correct could you please tell me what you think! thank you so much for your help =)!
20000lbs is about 9090kg.
Energy used in transport = 0.76 * 3700 * 9090 = 2.56E7 kcal
Energy in the food = 170 * 9090 = 1545300
Ratio = 2.56E7/1.55E6 = 16.5