Okay, so the other day NYUnplugged (NYU’s Residential Energy-Reduction Challenge, which ACTUALLY will most likely be in Fall ‘09 instead of Spring ‘10) had its wrap-up party in the University Hall Commons, and I was lucky enough to meet some great people from this organization,Rock the Bike. They were outgoing bikers/musicians/environmental activists who totally are the expression of one of MY ultimate dreams, to generate electricity WITH OUR LEGS! They’ve managed to reclaim bike parts, weld, and wire up their bike fleet to do a variety of things.
- They’ve wired everything up themselves so that their bike collection can power blenders, speakers, and lights
Rock the Bike is also closely associated with the bicycle-touring music scene, especially in California–they definitely ‘rock’ the whole grass-roots, easy-going biking culture scene. (Maybe they should hook up with Times-Up?) They recently opened up a shop in NYC with the help of Central Park Conservancy; so if you’re into great music, awesome people, environmentalism AND biking, I think this is the sort of place to be headed, I’m pretty sure their NYC shop is in Brooklyn, but I’d double check the site. They are working at putting together a fleet of multiple bikes to power speakers for LARGE concerts, so there has to be room for enthusiastic biking volunteers who would be willing to chill on the bike for a concert and be HEAVILY RELIED ON FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT!
After I helped run the bike-powered sound system for a little bit (and worked up a good sweat), I was beyond inspired–no one at Rock the Bike was a certified mechanical genius (not to say they aren’t brilliant people for the idea!), but they figured it out themselves! There has to be a way to expand man-powered electric technology to operate on larger electric grids…say, buildings? Muahaha.
- THE PALLADIUM
Okay, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but think about it; the number of gym-goers that are in and out of Palladium Athletic Facility every day from open to close, there has to be enough energy that can be stored in some sort of generator and used as electricity to AT LEAST power the gym itself! Could this work? Stay tuned. I think there needs to be some looking into numbers, grids, and $$prices$$ to figure out whether or not a pilot project could even be launched in a smaller location.
Regardless, check out Rock the Bike, they are awesome.
