What is Digg?132 Comments
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -3/+57itd be cool like if you had a card, you put in the machine, and the more energy you generate the more credits you get. then at the end of the month if you have enough credits you can get a free gym membership or like a discount off of it. that would be awesome
- allaboutdatiki, on 10/11/2007, -2/+47"Clinefelter's other vision for the future: he says he plans to hook up the club's television sets to the human-generation system. If you want to watch TV while working on the stationary bike or the Stairmaster - you are just going to have to pump harder."
Brilliant! - briansearles, on 10/11/2007, -1/+39I bet "the Matrix" began this way......
- cyclopsface, on 10/11/2007, -3/+39a watt is an instantaneous measurement, so saying someone produces "50 watts per hour" doesn't make any sense. They can produce 50 watts FOR an hour maybe, and so produce 50 watt-hours.
The real question I guess would be how many people would it take to generate 1.21 gigawatts? - monesy, on 10/11/2007, -3/+23finally...common sense prevails!!
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -5/+20Wow thats like half of one lightbulb!
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -5/+20I remember as a kid seeing a museum exhibit where a stationary bike powered a television.
It has always seemed asinine to me that cardio equipment in gyms need electricity to power their displays, energy that could easily be supplied by the people on them.
I have been waiting for something like this for a while.
If there was some way to monitor who generates what electricity it could be a great motivator in addition to being eco friendly. - nreynolds, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13most cardio systems don't require electricity from an external sorce. Pretty much just the treadmill does. Stairmaster, exercise bike, elliptical machine are all only human powered.
- sfontain, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12It's 50 watt-hours per hour, not 50 watts per hour.
- cyclopsface, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11If you use CFL's its more like 4 lightbulbs.
- whatsupimphil, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9FTA: "If you want to watch TV while working on the stationary bike or the Stairmaster - you are just going to have to pump harder."
That should be a law. It would virtually eliminate obesity. - SpaceParanoids, on 10/11/2007, -1/+91.21 gigawatts / 50 watts = 24.2 million people
- consoneo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7So I calculated it out... I used 590 Kilowatt hours of electricity this month... That would take me 491.666 repeating days to generate (non stop exercising). Youch!
- Xeth, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8Just from an economic standpoint, this is absurd. 50 watt-hours is less than a cent's worth of electricity. Having a reward system based on calories burned or weight lost would be appealing, but you don't have to install a bunch of "electricity generation" equipment.
- athodyd, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8It's about darn time! I've thought about this; why didn't I do it!????
- wvannus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Someone else noticed the, um, odd, units.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Those ***** robots. I swear to god we can't ever trust them. Our interests are human advancement, while theirs is all screws and bolts. The nerve of a robot getting pissed at humans treating him like the robot he has. The utter nerve.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I use 1000 watt lightbulbs, does that make me an ass crater?
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Brilliant? Anyone who hasn't been to a gym, watched all the treadmills and bikes in action and HASN'T wondered why they don't harvest the energy is a little slow.
This guy didn't "invent" this; he simply did the obvious. - jcact, on 10/11/2007, -3/+7Here's an idea. Free gym memberships or discount memberships based on how much power you generate. Book it.
- Xeth, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Hehe, people are digging me down so I guess not as many as I hoped.
- Charlotte_Web, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5I remember seeing it in an old Battlestar Galactica episode. Starbuck, a Cylon (the old-style robot kind), and some pregnant woman were all trapped on an ice planet in this cave, and had to depend on each other for survival. Starbuck and the Cylon took turns riding the stationary bike to generate electricity to keep the heater going. The Cylon got pissed because Starbuck wasn't treating him like a real person.
Yeah, you thought the NEW Galactica was wierd... - z3021017, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5L: Mmm, I wonder what makes it turn.
C: Who cares? - nubnub, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5I've thought of this before.
Also use the running water in your house to power some of it. - xSEED, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4in america machines workout for you
- Novion76, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4THIS IS SHEER GENIUS! The human hamster wheel is here!
Speaking of, wouldn't that be awesome to have your hamster powering some of your devices? - Sharkee, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Upright Citizens Brigade called this one long ago...
- foofightrs777, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6Some of us:
a) don't live in a climate where this is possible everyday
b) have injuries where exercise is best where one doesn't get miles frm their starting/return point in case of aggrevation
c) don't live in an area where it is safe enough to be running around the (neighbor)hood
d) Suffer from asthma which is exacerbated by the poor outdoor air quality and can be deadly if the individual is unable to find help close by. - Beevo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I've thought of this before, but to be fair it was while watching the Flintstones and Fred had an animal on a treadmill running in order to do something...so I guess I can't take credit it was Hanna Barbera.
- Grok22, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3he better turn off his computer first
- s1mph0ny, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3@space: No, the article was being redundant by trying to say 50 watts per hour. But yeah, the correct unit is watt, since it is an energy stream and not a capsule.
- dimplemonkey, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5you know, we could just wire the exercisers directly and store them in specialized vats of goo that would better harness the energy.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Man, a LOT of things are superior to mainland China. China's got us when it comes to gold-farming, but we've got them beat when it comes to safe dogfood, toothpaste, and most importantly - how to make a model trainset.
Hong Kong shouldn't be part of China. - cdmarcus, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4What the hell would be the point of making an oven cooler by removing heat from it to turn it back into electricity?
- m4csrgh3yk3v, on 10/11/2007, -0/+350 watts per hour doesn't make sense. Their average power over an hour is 50 watts makes sense.
- Derrekito, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3My knees can't take it.
- funkyB, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I'm glad someone already posted this or I was going to. Watt is a measure of instantaneous power, and as you say watts per hour is literally nonsensical. On a side note - does everyone know the Doc from back to the future was right? the metric prefix " Giga " is correctly pronounced " Jigga " check around if you don't believe it, but because common use has trended towards " Giga ", you'll find both in many places now.
- Vector713, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3haha, I was just thinking to myself at the gym the other day how much electricity could be generated by all the people there..
i knew it was too good of an idea to not already be implemented. glad to see someone else is thinking ahead :) - MasteRR, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3"50 watts of electricity per hour"
*****. You can generate 50w at any moment in time, but over a course of an hour you would have generated 50 watt-hours, not 50 watts. I'm not sure what to call the difference, but thats kinda like saying you drove 50MPH in a hour, it just doesn't make sense. You drove 50 MPH for an hour, or 50 miles in an hour.
Call me picky, but these people need to use the correct terms, otherwise they just sound stupid. - artofwar420, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4More like what a douche.
- stoppedcode12, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2You do realize that your water supply uses ELECTRICAL PUMPS to build water pressure, don't you?
- pronouncable, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2This makes so much sense it hurts.
- ferrouswheel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Generation of sound uses/creates very little power
- wilhoitm, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Where can I get that for my Condo! Someone could make a killing selling this! I am paying Pepco way too much especially after they de-regulated power Maryland!
- Furkle, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Not to mention, if you're using 100 watt bulbs you're automatically an *****.
- hokkos, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3In fat USA, electricity generates your exercises
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2OK, I'm going to have to dig up the box set for that one.
- dt40, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Sounds like an intriguing idea until you realize how much money this really saves.
In last year's Tour de France, Floyd Landis averaged 235 watts. Assume six hours per day for 20 days, that is 28,200 watt-hours, or 28.2 kilowatt hours.
A kilowatt-hour of electricity costs about $0.10. Therefore, assuming PERFECT conversion of Floyd's evergy into electricity, he generated $2.82 worth of electicity DOING A WINNING TOUR DE FRANCE effort!!!
This concept of using human-powered electricity is not going to change anything. Frankly, it probably costs much more in CO2 emissions and environmental damage to build and install the conversion equipment than it actually saves. This is just a publicity stunt, "greenwashing." - ketsugi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I'm not sure I ever want to see obese people "pumping" harder.
- ronaldinho, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Yeah, make all the obese Americans work for their electricity......obesity would no longer be a national epidemic. One problem solved!
-
Show 51 - 100 of 122 discussions
Browsing Digg on your phone just got easier with our enhancements to the 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is