[Pil-pc-oceania] Bike Moves

[Daniel Rossi]

On 31/03/2008, at 1:00 PM, adam at energybulletin.net wrote:

> i have some photos somewhere of a bicycle powered gig in japan which  
> a permie friend helped organise, can't find right now.
>
> He couldn't remember how much energy was being produced.  But I  
> think you'd be lucky to get 100 watts of useful energy out of anyone  
> for anymore than half an hour.   I know that 200 watts = hard yakka,  
> like running up stairs, but there are going to be losses in friction  
> and translation to electrical energy, so producing 100 watts of  
> electricity would be hard work.  A small PA amp is rated at about  
> 400 watts, although it may use a lot less on average.  My 100 watt  
> amp runs at about 17 and doesn't change much from high or low  
> volume.  So probably two-three people riding in shifts could power a  
> small gig.

400watts would only be enough for a small room I reckon. For a  
'concert' it would be a rating of 2KW and up :)

>
>
> But given that it takes 10 joules of fossil fuel energy to produce  
> one joule of food in Australia (more or less), if you're eating  
> industrial food to power the bicycle, would you really be saving  
> energy?  ;)
>

That's an interesting analogy. That's why my suggestion that if every  
one in the crowd was generating the power for just being there and  
walking around somehow rather than one person sweating it out on a  
bike it could be more efficient ? So a moving magnet generator or  
something like that.