Comments on: Bicycle-powered Television at Bed and Breakfast

By: Watching TV | Cyclise

Watching TV | Cyclise — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 22:09:47 +0000

[...] Urban Velo Share:No related posts. ‹ A stray dog completes a 1700km journey across China New American [...]

By: arlerond

arlerond — Wed, 23 May 2012 06:24:12 +0000

hi it’s possible to have the same thing in my home ?
i’m really interested by this kind of thing

By: InnkeeperVA

InnkeeperVA — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:05:58 +0000

I love it!
Unfortunately those who want to be the couch potatoes and hang out in the rooms – or those on a romantic getaway, vs those out hiking and sightseeing in these Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, are not very likely to peddle to watch their shows or ball games. But I still love it! InnkeeperVA at The Claiborne House Bed and Breakfast of Virginia.

By: scott

scott — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:32:30 +0000

Thanks for the clarification Vincent. I figured it had something to do with return and expense. Do the retrofit mechanisms have the potential to harness enough of the energy (say, at a YMCA) to at least pay for the retrofit kits…and maybe a little extra? I suppose they could always stick them in front of the vending machines and at least make people work for their crappy snacks.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:52:03 +0000

Oh man! I am all over this topic! I’m the president of the Energy Club at the University of New Hampshire where I am getting a master’s in mechanical engineering and we’re working to get electricity producing exercise equipment in the gym here. The trouble is the payback period. The human body can’t output much power to begin with and then the inefficiencies of converting mechanical power to electrical means it takes 20+ years for the machine to pay for itself (and something will likely break in that time period).

ReRev is a company that makes retrofit kits, mostly for universities, because the education factor is worth much more than the actual power produced. If you want to do something really meaningful with bicycle power, use the mechanical energy straight away to drive something like a washing machine. That’s what I built as my senior design project this year. Good stuff! Love the articles! Keep up the good posts!