here is something else to check out
http://www.windstreampower.com/Human_Power_Generator_Series.php
.
Thanks for the link but that’s $600 (they don’t even give you a trainer) and I think mine will only cost about $100-$150 or so to make. Of course, I’m not considering all the long hours I’ll have to put into it. Also, it will take all the fun out of trying to make it.
That’s the same link as my first post.
that cat is right down the road from me. he built the 1st one for his daughter, if she wanted to watch tv, she had to pedal. now he has a little “humanitarian” VC to bring elec to un/under developed nations…
Easy - just get a tyre dynamo and turn off the lights in the garage or wherever you turbo. Really you arent going to get much more power than that anyway.
Generating electricity really isn’t an efficient use of human time and energy. Their lives would likely be better if they expended their time and resources in other areas and relied on the sun or wind for electricity.
the cost & infrastructure reqts with wind/solar power are pretty different. both nice supplemental power sources, but can’t count on either for baseload/on demand and both very expensive. this is small scale emergency generator capacity for low power reqts on the super cheap…
They still beat human power by a long shot. If you want cheap just use coal.
That’s really cool, that you live right next to him so you can see his stuff, but also the humanitarian stuff.
Generating electricity really isn’t an efficient use of human time and energy. Their lives would likely be better if they expended their time and resources in other areas and relied on the sun or wind for electricity.
nor is it efficient via solar or wind…you obviously haven’t reviewed the economics of solar or windpower…
Since you have, maybe you could share all the data. How many man hours per kilowatt of electricity do you get with a human powered generator? With solar? Wind?
I suspect human resources are better spent generating solar or wind power than pedaling a generator.
A society where everyone generates their own power by pedaling is going to be less productive than one that uses solar or wind power.
You are missing the point. This guy is looking to bring generator capacity to remote villages for less than $50. Cost is the objective. They are not trying to power a village. They would be used in emergency situations, where electricity is not currently available. Sure a nice big coal generator would be great, could you tell me where to get one that has a free fuel source and costs less than $50? Coal needs to be delivered, sun needs to shine and wind needs to blow. They are all impractical in the scenario that I originally described. Efficiency is not the goal in this scenario. The goal is a small amount of power at the lowest total cost, they do not need a 5mW power station that brings tons of power at a very high total cost, but low cost/kWh.
I need a link to the guy’s webpage where he describes the nature of the emergency, the village’s resources, its goals during the crisis, and its electrical needs prior to the emergency, if any.
Are they trying to power a satellite phone? Defibrillator? Cook food? Purify water? Watch a soccer game? How far are they away from the nearest road? How often does a vehicle travel that road? How close is the next nearest village?