Make Electricity While You Exercise
(Page 2 of 5)
October/November 2008
By John Gulland
Windstream Power offers two human-powered devices. One is the Bike Power Generator, which is a stand to fit your bike to; it quickly converts a regular bicycle to an electricity generator.
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The other product is the Human Power Generator, a floor-mounted stand with a pedal on each side and a generator inside. Simply sit in a chair in front of the Human Power Generator and start pedaling. Windstream’s customers often have surprising uses for its products. For example, the company shipped more than 300 units of the Human Power Generator to Siberian forestry camps to power communications equipment.
Both models produce direct current (DC), but you can purchase a battery pack that includes an inverter so you can power household appliances that run on alternating current (AC).
Educators, “off-gridders” and marketing firms that want to use pedal generators to promote a green image are Windstream’s main customers for human-powered products. Schools and museums also have been steady customers for the company. “Windstream builds interactive and educational displays that can provide the participants with an opportunity to experience the physical energy required to produce electricity,” Sheila says.
She describes a particularly effective display in which the generator load can be switched between a compact fluorescent light bulb, which is easy to light up by pedaling, and an incandescent bulb, which takes more effort to light because of its greater energy consumption.
Sometimes a Little Power Goes a Long Way
While a human-powered generator won’t produce the output of a wind turbine or photovoltaic array, it can produce usable power that contributes to your overall energy needs. If you use less electricity to begin with, the amount generated by pedal power can meet a larger percent of your power needs.
David Butcher’s experience is a case in point. Every morning he goes out to his garage and pedals a stationary bike for at least a half hour. The effort he puts into his workout isn’t wasted on friction as it is in most fitness gyms. Every pedal stroke makes electricity that is sent down a cable to his office in the house to power several small electrical devices. Pedal power recharges his electric razor and his cell phone, runs a computer monitor, and periodically runs the compressor that tops off the air pressure in the tires of his vehicles. David also runs the bike generator directly to a water pump whenever necessary for aerating and filtering the small backyard fishpond.
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