Back in the fifties, In high school physics, we did an experiment to find
out how much power teen agers could generate. Our task was running up
stairs. We found that kids in really athletic shape could put out close to
one HP for one flight. The average was less than half that value. One HP
is 746 watts with out losses. We are a pretty puny species! No wonder we
got animals to do the hard work followed by wind, water and finally steam
and electricity.
Dave
"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote in message
...
Thinking that nothing is ever gained or lost in a system, only transferred
and typically at a loss, Ive often thought of what sustainability is in a
nuts-and-bolts kind of way. Something Ive been thinking of, off and on
over the last few years is how much electricity a human being can
generate. Using running water as a source is all good, but lets say you
were to build a simple machine consisting of maybe some parts of a bicycle
including the peddles, gears, chain etc, then instead of the wheel, you
could have the alternator out of a car. Or, if tha was too much to
peddle, you could use the wheel (or a substitute) as a pulley then another
pulley going to the alternator. How many amps can a person generate at
12V?

Something like this would be simple, dead cheap, and would provide an
excellent backup when all else has failed in the middle of nowhere and
your generator/solar/engine/wind power have all died and you need to
charge your batteries. Beyond that, I wouldnt feel at all bad about
pedalling for a couple of hours a day on a long voyage as opposed to
running the engine for a couple of hours. Sort of earning your daily
bread, if you like.

Thoughts?

Shaun