Pedal power or hydro power???

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robscovell

123 posts

Master Geek

# 11944 20-Feb-2007 16:14

I have been thinking about carbon-neutral computing and started to think about whether I could rig up an exercise bike to power a dynamo to charge a car battery to provide a power source for recharging all the gadgets I have, including my laptop.

Then I realised that the energy would come from food. Unless I each loads of feijoas from the tree in my garden to provide the energy, the food has to be transported to me by carbon-emitting vehicles. So I concluded that it is better to sign up to Meridian (who use 100% renewable energy sources) than to power my gadgets myself.

Are there any eco-power geeks out there who can tell me if my reasoning is correct?

Rob

gchiu

805 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 62360 28-Feb-2007 22:29

I don't know about the carbon neutrality of this .. but those feijoas might well help to contribute to greenhouse gases anyway!

If you want to do this for exercise, then you'll need a low speed dynamo. Most of the dynamos around are high speed, and not suitable to attaching to the bike.

This one was used by the author to power some light bulbs but he did report that he kept blowing the bulbs, when driving them directly. So, better to use it to charge the batteries.

I now own the dynamo pictured .. it was sold to me by Mr Forbes.

asianbro

47 posts

Geek

# 62409 1-Mar-2007 11:28

robscovell: I have been thinking about carbon-neutral computing and started to think about whether I could rig up an exercise bike to power a dynamo to charge a car battery to provide a power source for recharging all the gadgets I have, including my laptop.

Then I realised that the energy would come from food. Unless I each loads of feijoas from the tree in my garden to provide the energy, the food has to be transported to me by carbon-emitting vehicles. So I concluded that it is better to sign up to Meridian (who use 100% renewable energy sources) than to power my gadgets myself.

Are there any eco-power geeks out there who can tell me if my reasoning is correct?

Rob

Yeah, but you need food regardless. Besides, many people are getting fatter from lack of exercise (including me!), which is a waste of energy. We get too much energy from our foods (sugar, carbo, etc), then we end up wasting our excess energy on Friday night.

robscovell

123 posts

Master Geek

# 62953 6-Mar-2007 12:50

I like the look of that dynamo!

I'm rather thin, so I'm not really wasting the small amount of food I eat. I suppose the ideal would be for carbon-neutral thin geeks to get their power from friends who have slower metabolic rates ... !

Rob

gchiu

805 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 62956 6-Mar-2007 12:56

I think cannibalism is frowned upon in NZ

weblordpepe

460 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

# 63029 6-Mar-2007 21:42

At least cannibalism would solve world hunger and the over-population problem in one hit.