"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
New ways to power conventional activities Act3
I lead a pretty simple life--children, chores, research, chores, volunteering, chores, gardening, chores, travel...you guessed it...
There is an old Melanie Safka song (Brand New Key), covered by The Dollyrots (Blackheart Records 2008) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM9WuVpfl3U. The lyrics at about 50 second in: "I ride my bike, I roller skate, don't drive no car, don't go too fast, but I go pretty far..." got me thinking. If I can generate solar power for my phone, computer, television, home with solar cells, bike-solar power conversion (http://http://www.econvergence.net/electro.htm;
http://ezinearticles.com/?Build-Bike-Generator-to-Generate-Electric...),
then what if I tried to power other places I go (have bike, will travel...)?
My two oldest children are in elementary school. During the day, before and after school, and even well into the evening, the lights in the school burn brightly, supporting childrens' education, community education, community outreach and activities. What if we could undertake a joint effort with the local high school physics or engineering class, and with a local bike shop or thrift/recycling store, and refurbish a fleet of old bikes into a meeting-room configuration, hooked up to power-generating equipment?
"Pedal for Schools"
Instead of a trip to the gym (if you go) and a trip to the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) or other school meeting, busy parents could maximize efforts, and pedal their way through an otherwise ordinary meeting--getting exercise, generating electricity, saving tax dollars and the environment, setting great examples for their children, and racking up those beta endorphins to power them through the meeting with happiness and a sense of accomplishment! The science students would get great experience, and civic volunteering experience, too, and the schools would become beacons of renewable, clean power usage.
Depending on the length of the meetings, enough excess power could be generated to actually supply the grid!
And, harkening back to some emails I'd sent (Hello, Governor Schwarzenneger, I have a suggestion to help offset the horrendous, spiralling energy costs in my husband's beautiful home state of California: no, I haven't heard back, but maybe I will send him the email again, with the link to this blog in EVOKE!), I decided--why stop at our school?
"Pedal for Flights"
Wouldn't it be a grand idea to install ranks of power-generating bikes, steppers, treadmills at airports (in California, and elsewhere--there are lots of travelers here in the DC area too). Tired, cramped passengers could get some free exercise, hear good music on ipods powered by some of the pedal power they generate, and DO SOME GREAT WORK TO HELP OUR ENVIRONMENT! While in transit! (computerized release forms could be set up for safety purposes if needed)
Passengers could generate enough power to support the electric consumption of a terminal, or more--depending upon the number of bikes used, and riders contributing. Power supplies would continue as normal during off-peak, low-volume transit times.
"Pedal for Sights"
So--all those travelers must be going somewhere--so why not try to start a project to put discrete banks of bikes at some tourist destinations (Mladenka Prvulovic ecotourism guru, maybe you can do this too?). Showcase power platforms, blended in to the environmental amenities and facing some of the spectacular sights of the area, could help power the tourist site, pump water, provide heating or cooling. Tourists could enjoy the destination regardless of the weather, stretch legs that might be cramped from long drives to arrive on site, and "give back" to their hosts, to the environment, to the world.
Not bioluminescent jellyfish, microbial feasting-dynamos, or the largest (800,000 square feet--think of the closet space!) solar building in the world (so far--in Dezhou, China--trade show coming up this fall: http://http://cleantechnica.com/2009/12/15/china-to-host-internatio...), but it uses something I do every day--bike, cart-travel, walk, rollerskate... to power something that is used every day, and maybe the idea can catch on.
Bikes, like solar suitcases (http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/learn3-solar-suitcases?xg...), are really very portable. Possibly linked with solar or other sustainable/renewable power to augment their productivity, many or all community and other shared spaces could "go green"!
Views: 26
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Comment by Luuk van Breda on March 22, 2010 at 3:14am
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great idea, bikes for elctricity, heard before but never imagine it would come back.
I shoulod know coming from holland and travelling through china.thanks. you got 2 votes from me
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Comment by Michele Baron on March 22, 2010 at 4:19pm
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@Pan--good way to maximize efforts--co-funding with health insurers. Need to make time to develop that line of thought. Lots of bike-commuters around here. Thanks!
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Comment by Omri or something on March 22, 2010 at 4:58pm
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I love it.
Though it is hard to power an entire school every day of pedaling. you seem to have an incredibly agile mind. I put up a post on solar heat engines. they're really simple to make if you have put a little thought into it. I'm trying to make one now, and I think you might enjoy the challenge.
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Thanks Omri! Bike pedal-power converters can be paired with solar/valent, or more complex mechanisms (channel wind produced by stationary-bike tires into funnel chambers to augment ambient valent?) to magnify DC current output). Since schools/buildings stationary, could also work thermal receptors/heliostat tower inclusions on exterior corners of buildings, with solar thermal collectors on rooves, etc... I will look forward to reading your work. Regards, Michele
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Comment by Sayel Cortes on March 25, 2010 at 8:10am
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What about pairing pedal-power with wind power? when using the bike you have some wind which maybe you can use with some windbelts http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/wind-belt to light some lights to your bike! Since you don´t need to store much electricity for stuff like lights you could save up the cost and the weight of the batteries maybe. Pedaling seems to me to be able to get more energy so can be used in some "bigger" stuff like maybe charging a cellphone, ipod or laptop while you bike.
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@Savel, yes! Wind-belts, even modified portable solar, work on bikes and all kinds of motion-powered renewable energy configurations.
I like the Wind-belt site link--thank you!
Moving bikes and stationary ones, moving carts, etc. There is great flexibility with technology application--finding the right mix to fit the community (and one's own talents) will go far towards providing as much energy security as possible...
Thanks for the comment.
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Comment by Jane McGonigal on May 13, 2010 at 2:40am
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Hi Michele, I'm a bit late to comment, but I really love this vision. I think we all have so much "nervous energy", especially in places like airports, waiting in lines, school... there are so many spaces in life that we could do good by making energy (and probably helping us focus, or stay calm, at the same time!) I would love to see an Evokation dedicated to this movement, if not this season, then next! Thanks for bringing this vision to the network's attention. ^_^
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Hello! and thank you very much, Jane. I think this would be a great Evokation, and can collaborate on it for this season, or develop it more fully for next. I love that it can be useful, for all participants, and productive, anywhere in the world (even at heritage/conservation tourist destinations, maybe located alongside the Information/Rest Area houses, to power up the various necessary support amenities in a green fashion...) Want to build a team? Congratulations on Evoke 1, and thank you for your contributions, as well.
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