Create Your Own Human Generator and Start Saving Money Today!
Children and adults have generated power with their bodies for years to get from one place to another on bicycles. When you swim across a pond you utilize power.
When you walk to a friend's home rather than driving your car you are utilizing power.
Our society has become conditioned in the past two or three generations to using fossil fuels, machines, motors and batteries to provide for our power needs.
Environment Damage
As the damage to the environment caused by use of fossil fuels and automobiles has become clear, the idea of using our own body's energy to create power has come to the forefront.
It makes sense - especially when you consider how many of us are focused on working out to keep our bodies in top shape. Cycling for miles every day you can enjoy the scenery and strengthen your muscles and cardio system.
You can cycle the same number of miles on a stationary bike to provide power for the TV you watch during your exercise.
New Way
It's a new way of looking at human potential and a smart way to live for those worried about the environment. It's a cost conscious way to run some of the systems in your home.
Using your body to generate power is a practical way to save money and could help fight the increase in obesity in the country. What's not to like?
The human body is an engine that produces power. Just as batteries work best when fully charged, our bodies worked best when kept in top physical condition.
Clearly, the capacity for creating power with our bodies is limited. We can only cycle for so long because taking a break and the power produced is limited.
Emergency
However, in an emergency where electrical grids are not operational, the ability to charge batteries by peddling on your bike could get you through a natural disaster.
In New York, Occupy Wall Street protestors resorted to pedal power to operate phones, cameras and laptops. Generators were set up and people took turns peddling madly to power the generators.
Power generated by your body is not very economical as you are spending time to create a small amount of electrical energy. The attractiveness of using humans to power machines is in the environmental area and the motivational arena.
For years, stationary bicycles and treadmills have been used for home exercising. These machines were designed to help you lose weight and tone up as well as to provide exercises that strength your heart.
Batteries
Most of the exercise equipment uses batteries to provide the electronic displays to measure progress or have a plug that pulls electricity for the same purpose.
Why not convert to exercise equipment that gives you the same workout but produces power at the same time? That power may be used to directly run a TV or sound system or lights in the room.
It may be used to charge a connected battery that can then be used as needed. Currently, we recharge batteries for laptops and cell phones and toys by plugging them into a charger run by the commercial power grid.
Think of the savings if everyone recharged batteries using their bodies instead. You would have pounds and inches lost, improved health and fossil fuels and money saved.
Gyms
Though new ideas are being explored every day, most of those ideas will not every reach the consumer marketplace. One area where human generated power is becoming commonplace is in exercise businesses.
Modern gyms are using the equipment peddled and rowed and walked by paid members to feed the power grid and reduce the overhead costs of the gym.
For gyms, this is an advertising bonanza due to the environmental consciousness of consumers today. Not only are gym owners reducing their own energy costs but they are saving fossil fuels and the environment.
That packs some advertising punch. Each person generates only a small amount of power when using the exercise machines but when combined with many other members using the equipment throughout the day, the power produced will add up.
The move to energy producing exercise equipment likely began with an environmentalist who thought it wasteful when he saw the heat energy produced by a person on a spinning bike.
Growing Industry
Today, there is a growing new industry that provides kits and supplies to gyms who want to convert their current exercise equipment to capture power generated in the process.
Modification kits are proving very popular with gym owners who would like to utilize this new technology but not if it involves buying all new (expensive) equipment.
A single spinning bike connected to capture the energy produced could power a ceiling fan in your home or perhaps run a simple kitchen appliance.
A new stationary bike design is more efficient at converting power due to a handwheel added to the standard pedal design. While your feel pedal away, your hands are busy turning a separate flywheel located where you would expect handlebars to grip.
Capture Power
Not only is the new design a more efficient way to capture power produced by human endeavor - the machine provides a full workout for your entire body.
This new product is also unique because several of the bikes can be linked together to feed the generated power into one generator.
This helps reduce the cost of the machines for professional gyms as up to ten bike exercisers can be operated while the owner need only buy one electronics package for all of the machines.
Commercial Generator
For campers and those living off the grid, there are small generators available commercial. With these units, the power is created by a hand turned crank that is like peddling with your arms. These are designed to use as battery chargers.
Not surprisingly, many of these machines have been adopted by survivalists. Many of these people expect life to become difficult in future years.
They are worried about the economy crashing, loss of value in our monetary system and fear either a natural disaster or economic collapse will lead to severe hardship.
To prepare, these groups learn to live on the land and prepare to live without any connection to commercial power grids.
They focus on being able to survive for years without the stores and entertainment and luxuries we are accustomed to.
For them, a generator powered by human provides a way to create light and possibly heat.
Summary
Power generated from your body will never replace alterantive energy resources.
But the potential for operating equipment after a natural disaster or in lessening the reliance on commercial power is enticing to many of us.
We may never be able to fly on our own power but we might be able to light the runway.
