“It’s got its hair in curlers,” says Barry Rawn, a PhD student in electrical engineering, of his latest project, as he walks through the labyrinth of the Galbraith building to his basement laboratory.
He unveils his creation, the result of a collaborative effort with three other team members: a mounted bike that stands in a corner of the lab and seems not only to have its hair in curlers, but entangled in a dizzying array of wires, batteries, invertors and concrete.
In fact, the bike has been rigged to convert the body’s energy into stored electrical energy. Pedaling the bike drives a generator and produces electrical energy that is stored in a battery. The longer one pedals, the more energy gets stored. This energy is then used to power ordinary household items. Constantly trying to improve the design, the team covered the spokes of the back wheel in concrete to keep up the momentum once the wheels begin to turn.
The team built the bike in partnership with the organizers of the Energy Sustainability Fair, an annual event aimed at raising awareness about sustainable energy alternatives. The bike will be one of the main attractions at this year’s fair, which takes place place on April 5th. “[The bike] gives better appreciation of where energy comes from and teaches people what energy household devices require,” says Rawn. “Today’s citizens of the developed world are getting a free ride off cheap abundant fossil fuels. This is a different kind of ride.”
The amount of energy different household items consume span a wide spectrum and put into perspective how certain items use energy much faster than it is produced. On the low end of the energy consumption spectrum, a person pedaling at full speed for 10 minutes can generate energy at a rate of about 100 watts, enough to power a small television for the same amount of time. Watching an episode of Seinfeld would thus be possible, whereas the director’s cut of Lord of the Rings, not so much.
On the other hand, the microwave is one of the most energetically expensive household items. To power a microwave for one minute would require ten people on bikes, all pedaling up 100 watts. Ponder that next time you nuke that Kraft dinner.
Rawn hopes his team’s creation will educate people about energy use and how the choices one makes in every day life have an impact. “A sustainable energy infrastructure is essential and inevitable,” he says. But awareness and involvement is the first step.
