Can Cyclists Power a House?
The BBC's Bang Goes the Theory show decided to find out how much electricity the average British family of four uses in a day. They attempt to power a house for an entire day solely through human pedal power.
For reasons I will never understand, the BBC doesn't allowing embedding of their videos. So... here's the link.
Can 80 cyclists power a house for a day?
Thanks to Matthew from Spacing.ca for the link.
2 thinking out louds:
Makes me think of Ed Begley Jr. trying to make toast with a stationary bike.
http://www.livingwithed.net/eguide.asp?xepisode=Season+I&CID=1
Asking if cyclists can power a house kind of misses the point of a bicycle, doesn't it. It's not that a cyclist generates a ton of energy pedaling. It's that she gets around more efficiently than any other mode of transportation, using less wattage (as it were) to get from point a to point b.
So what the BBC proposed was putting the weakest possible power plant on the house.
Still, it's a fun experiment and if you insist on human power instead of some form of renewable power, you wouldn't be able to find a better power plant.
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