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I love all the uses people come up with for the energy created by bikes.
The idea of pedal powered television is killer. It’s the opposite of couch potato, since you’re literally paying for the TV you watch with your own sweat.
Be sure to check out the video linked at the top of that page. It is so nerdy you can hardly believe it. In my bones, I believe that something important is going on there. Too bad my brain can’t understand what it is.
I think that maybe The Google needs a new translation service: one that you can point at technically obtuse information and receive the same stuff in layman’s terms. (via)
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Filed Under: green power
1 comment for this entry ↓
1 ROY GATHERCOAL // Jan 27, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Hey there!
I didn’t realize you were into bicycling.
Here are a couple of ideas: One of the banes of powered wheelchair users is the tether. Thankfully your leash is much longer than an extension cord. . .(I wonder. ..) but you still are tied to the standard electrical system by way of your batteries.
Chairs use a couple of 12 volt batteries, typically recharged each evening by plugging into the wall.
But wait! This might be an opportunity to make chair/bike partnerships work, even for longer trips (most chairs promise up to 20-25 mile per charge–that is, of course, with fully charged nearly new batteries and no hills).
What if you traveled with a third battery? Your bicycle companion could be charging away as you drain ‘em down. When you get low, stop for a bit of a break and swap out the newly charged battery for one of the used. A couple of hours later, you could swap again for a ride limited only by your bicycler’s own “bio-batteries.”
I recall with some distress the time I tried to accompany my wife during the Portland Marathon. I hadn’t even gone five miles before my charge indicator started blinking. Of course, our vehicle was not parked conveniently close to where my chair quit on me–it was resting five miles back!
It took me several hours to return, stopping at a random electrical outlet to charge for 20-30 minutes, then going another mile or so toward the vehicle. Of course, it was hot out and extra electrical outlets aren’t always located in the nice shady spots!
Technically a bike solution wouldn’t have helped me in that situation, but it might make long bike trips a possibility–perhaps with the addition of a solar panel trickle charger on the back of the chair? Most people in chairs don’t have issues with being up and active for hours at a time–they just need to avoid getting stranded with discharged batteries.
This might just be the herald of a new phenomenon!
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