| Pedal Powered Laptop |
| Written by Hank Green | ||
| Monday, 04 December 2006 | ||
|
Having a somewhat disturbing connection
with my PC, I have often thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if I had to work
out to work." For example, if my mouse weighed 50 lbs, I could probably
be a champion arm wrestler in a month's time.
But, instead, I become softer for every minute I spend at this computer, and I spend a lot of minutes here. This YouTube video that I spotted at ecoIron shows a pretty impressive pedal power generating system. The beefy guy on the left does all the work, while the guy behind the camera, one can assume, put together the electronics for the system. They're using an ultracapacitor, it seems, to store and regulate the charge, and have a "watts up" power meter measuring the draw from the device. Zack, the pedaler, seems to have no problem keeping up the 20-30 watts it takes to power the IBM Thinkpad. I would pay a lot of money for a desk chair that had a keyboard and mouse pad and pedals. The Pedal Chair: Stay fit, use renewable power, and strengthen the man-machine interface. No one was ever this ready for the apocalypse. Via TechEBlog
Comments
(2)
Good Idea
written by Celia , January 11, 2007
I like this concept. I wonder if it's possible to build a gym on this idea. Really, with all the energy people spend on working out, the gym could possibly power itself.
Driving to the gym
written by MistressOfTheDorkness , August 02, 2007
It *does* seem a little silly to me that people use energy to drive to the gym to expend energy.
That should be captured, a full gym could power itself and sell excess power back to the grid! It should also lower gym membership pricing because they don't have to pay to power the lights and the equipment. In fact, depending on how well it works, gyms might turn into electric coops that pay people to come power them. ~pondering~ Back to the OP, I'd pay decent money to be able to power my computer while typing with something like this under the desk... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007L9JKO/ref=wl_it_dp/105-7352290-9130855?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2R1KJ1PYK2O12&colid=3R0FO4NIWRWGG | ||
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Science, technology gadgets and...baby seals. We're in a bit of an eco-mess, but we've got the brains to lick any problem. And that's why EcoGeek.org publishes up to ten stories daily about innovations that are saving the planet.
And if that sounds interesting to you, then congratulations, you're an EcoGeek.
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