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| pedp:pedal-powered [2026/03/13 12:41] – [Related topics] Simon Grant | pedp:pedal-powered [2026/03/26 18:33] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 | ||
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| - | # Pedal-powered machines | + | This topic is part of [[gt: |
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| - | ## What are pedal-powered machines? | + | ===== What are pedal-powered machines? |
| Pedal-powered machines can either be driven directly by the turning pedals, or by electricity generated by the turning pedals. The former is very simple, relying on belts, friction wheels and / or gears rather than motors, batteries or inverters – although they’re used for machines that involve motion, like grinders, blenders or sewing machines (and of course, [bicycles](/ | Pedal-powered machines can either be driven directly by the turning pedals, or by electricity generated by the turning pedals. The former is very simple, relying on belts, friction wheels and / or gears rather than motors, batteries or inverters – although they’re used for machines that involve motion, like grinders, blenders or sewing machines (and of course, [bicycles](/ | ||
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| - | ## What are the benefits of pedal-powered machines? | + | ===== What are the benefits of pedal-powered machines? |
| - Good exercise – but even better, you don’t waste your energy. On a stationary exercise bike all the energy produced is simply wasted as heat. Replace the resistance unit with a generator or a mechanically-driven machine and you can do useful work as you’re cycling ... | - Good exercise – but even better, you don’t waste your energy. On a stationary exercise bike all the energy produced is simply wasted as heat. Replace the resistance unit with a generator or a mechanically-driven machine and you can do useful work as you’re cycling ... | ||
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| - | ## What can I do? | + | ===== What can I do? ===== |
| You can’t power an entire house via pedal-power. A fit (every day) cyclist may generate an average of 70W for an hour, and 160W in short bursts; and a Tour de France rider can sustain approximately 400W, or up to 1kW peaks! Let’s work with a figure of around 100 Watt-hours from an hour’s cycling. A unit of electricity on your bill is a kilowatt-hour (1 kWh), so you’d be generating one-tenth of a unit of electricity with an hour’s cycling – the value of which would be less than 2p. But you can power small items as you’re using them, and bigger things if there are several cyclists working together; or you can re-charge things like laptops, mobile phones or batteries, whilst exercising. | You can’t power an entire house via pedal-power. A fit (every day) cyclist may generate an average of 70W for an hour, and 160W in short bursts; and a Tour de France rider can sustain approximately 400W, or up to 1kW peaks! Let’s work with a figure of around 100 Watt-hours from an hour’s cycling. A unit of electricity on your bill is a kilowatt-hour (1 kWh), so you’d be generating one-tenth of a unit of electricity with an hour’s cycling – the value of which would be less than 2p. But you can power small items as you’re using them, and bigger things if there are several cyclists working together; or you can re-charge things like laptops, mobile phones or batteries, whilst exercising. | ||
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| - | ## Further resources | + | ===== Forum ===== |
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| + | This topic belongs to the section [[gt: | ||
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| + | ===== Further resources | ||
| - [Mother Earth News](https:// | - [Mother Earth News](https:// | ||
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| - | ## Related topics | + | ===== Related topics |
| - [[batt: | - [[batt: | ||
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| - | ## Specialist curators of this topic | + | ===== Specialist curators of this topic ===== |