I’ve never liked using the stationary bicycles at the gym – they seem like such an incredible waste of energy when there is so much you could be doing with it. Some people generate power using their pedals – those of us who use a dynamo, for example, generate power to drive lights even while pushing the bike along the road. However generating electricity is a pretty inefficient way of doing things with engineers calculating that most generator systems losing 70% of the power that goes into the pedals. This post outines a range of ways in which pedal power could be used more directly – for example, by using the pedals to mechanically drive the blades in this blender!
There is even a bicycle plough here which is powered by a cable that is drawn in as a staionary bicycle is pedalled. the problem is of course, that if you need separate pedals for every gadget in the kitchen, you need a big kitchen! so where the thought is needed is in how to link a wide range of gadgets up to a single set of pedals!
A great opportunity of all you inventors out there!
The blender works really well and I have one if you ever want to try it out, and it should be featuring in the uni of canterbury eco week above. Its slightly prone to the bearing seizing up after smoothie gets dripped into it but makes an excellent drink. http://www.cycletrailers.co.nz/html/bike_blender.html