Sunday 1st June 2008
I’ve always been under the impression that the amount of energy generated by people is really pretty negligible. According to my quick-and-dirty research, it’s possible for a fit adult to generate 100w by pedaling on a bicycle. This is in theory enough to power a few light bulbs (assuming they are energy saving CFLs), but in practice I don’t see this as feasible.
A whole different perspective on this (ignoring the fact that in this scenario people exercise only incidentally) is that it’s probably ridiculously inefficient. Consider that this exercise needs to be powered by food, which needs to be grown or raised, harvested or slaughtered, packaged, delivered to shops, bought from shops, then cooked - all of which needs energy.
Quote posted at 17:12
