Crazy Green Energy Idea: Update
Posted on March 19, 2007
It turns out that it’s not too hard to build your own bike powered generator. There is a shareware guide available and a man by the name of B. Whaley even created a shopping list on amazon that includes everything you need down to the bike so you don’t even need to shop. This particular bike powered generator will output a max of 150 watts and it is 12V DC.
Ed Begley, Jr. has made toast with this very contraption on his HGTV series Living with Ed so it definitely works. Bottom Line: If you’re handy, have 2 - 3 hours and about $1,200 (according to the amazon list - of course you may already have the bike and some of the other parts and you may even be able to find used parts so it could cost much less) you could be making human power after one Saturday afternoon of work. Maybe hooking up gyms with these kind of contraptions could work afterall.
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Very cool - and I think I have most of the parts sitting in the basement and garage - it might be a great way to teach the boys the true sweat equity cost of things.
Good for you for finding a practical application for this idea. The last post struck me as being somewhat “green”. Although $1,200 and 3 hours seems like a lot of time and work for one bike. What about treadmills, elliptical and stair machines?
Perhaps the answer is to start this idea with a home based product like a consumer friendly bike power unit. Of course you’d need to make it super easy to use and understand and the price would have to be right (the UI and price combo would be key to adoption). Also, a reliable and efficient storage method would have to be included as well so if a user were to exercise but not want to use the power right away they could store the energy created and use it later. What do you guys think? What price point would need to be achieved? Do you think there is a market for this?