Remember the cycle dynamo? This project uses it to power your entire house
One hour of pedaling will offer 24 hours of electricity, it claims.
A project called Billions in Change run by billionaire philanthropist Manoj Bhargava is working on making clean and cheap electricity available to all. "Free Electric" as the hybrid cycle seen in the video above is called, can be used to generate 24 hours of power from one hour of pedaling, says Bhargava.
Bhargava plans to produce 10,000 units of these bicycles in India by March next year, of which the first 15 prototypes will be tested in villages in Uttarakhand. In an interview to Business Standard he said, "we intend to make all the bikes for India in India. These will be distributed throughout the country."
He also admits that while this concept is not novel, it is the most energy efficient of the alternatives. The idea of using bicycles for generating power has been around for some years now. The video below is one of several such projects using bicycles to convert mechanical energy into electricity, usually using what is known as a cycle dynamo:
"A standard electricity-producing bicycle can power one bulb as long as you are peddling it; the bulb goes out once you stop peddling. Our device can power 24 light bulbs, a fan, a phone charger and a tablet charger at the same time," Bhargava said.
Whether these bicycles will come free or not is unclear. Bhargava in an interview to National Geographic magazine is reported as saying "people won't take care of something that's free." He is convinced of this product however and in the same interview said "this is going to affect a few billion people.
