Power to the People

Coming to my attention a few days ago was a Newswise piece concerning a group of Furman University seniors who are raising money to purchase 15 Precor elliptical cross-training machines for installment in the Herman W. Lay Physical Activities Center. The goal is not only to provide a means for a daily dose of exercise, but to help power the Greenville, South Carolina, campus's electrical grid. According to the story, "A student, faculty, or staff member will be able to step onto an elliptical machine equipped with a ReRev kit and power a light bulb to show the electricity being generated."

Then there's this experiment that took place on a British Broadcasting Company show called Bang Goes the Theory. It sought to determine how many riders on generator-equipped stationary bikes it would take to power a shower fed by an electric water heater. It took 78 of them, "pedaling as hard as they can," says the host in the video.

I've often wondered, half jokingly and half not, if all the rapid calorie burning we active people do doesn't add to the accumulation of greenhouse gases. So maybe capturing all that effort and directing it to the grid is a smart thing.

But wait a minute — all 78 of those sweaty indoor cyclists will need their own showers. Now I'm really confused.

Have you run across any cool stories recently that relate to power generation by bicycle?

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BIKING WITHOUT BORDERS is posted every Monday by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling’s field editor, and highlights a little bit of this or a little bit of that — just about anything, as long as it’s related to traveling by bicycle. Mac also compiles the organization's twice-monthly e-newsletter Bike Bits, which goes free-of-charge to more than 40,000 readers worldwide.