Alan Seth

I enjoyed the video. I think the Idaho stop law is a good idea. To be safe at a stop sign, it is not necessary to stop completely; it is sufficient to scan for traffic and approach the intersection riding slowly enough to stop before entering if you see any.
Your energy argument is unconvincing, however. The kinetic energy varies as the square of the speed; A cyclist riding 15 mph who slows to 5 mph has already dissipated almost 90% of his kinetic energy; stopping completely makes little difference in the overall energy budget. Furthermore, the kinetic energy itself is a minor contribution to the energy budget; most of the work a cyclist does during a ride is against friction. There are three primary sources of friction: rolling friction, aerodynamic friction, and braking. Rolling friction is about the same no matter how fast you ride, while aerodynamic friction increases as the square of the speed. It therefore requires almost 4x as much energy to ride a given distance over flat terrain at 30 mph as it does at 15 mph. If you really want to be efficient, you should rid very slowly.