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Gym Dandy
So this is a bit of a gimmick -- but it's a GOOD gimmick: a new gym in
Portland, OR is using stationary bicycles to produce
electricity. (See here and here for recent press.)
First off, to any naysaying skeptics out there: there's absolutely nothing wrong with recapturing a bit of power that would otherwise be wasted. So I don't want to hear any talk-radio crank poo-pooing the idea. (Not that they'd ever listen to me -- I just wanted to get this out of the way early.)
Second, and perhaps more importantly, this is a perfect example of the sort of creativity the market's capable of. Once we set responsible limits on climate-warming emissions, we'll find all sorts of ways, large and small, to eliminate energy waste, and do more work with less fossil fuels. Stationary bike-generators are just small examples of all the nifty stuff we can do when we let ourselves imagine new solutions to energy woes.
That said, since I'm an incurable geek, I just had to run the numbers. How much power can a person actually generate from one of those stationary bikes?
Answer: not much, unfortunately.
