Want to generate power? Just cycle

BANGALORE: Multipurpose is the word. These young Bangaloreans say that you can exercise and generate power at the same time. The final year students of BMS Institute of Technology during their project has invented Pedal Bicycle Generator. The bicycle is an exercise machine and also doubles up as an equipment to generate power that can be used to power lights and other appliances.“The small amount of power that a healthy person can produce is best suited for short, intermittent tasks.The energy obtained from such a process is clean and pollution free. Clean energy will become more important to our world in the future as more people especially in upcoming countries like India require more power.Unfortunately most of the sources of power that we adopt now create pollution,” say the students.The advantages of pedal bicycle generator is that it requires no fuel and is not affected by weather conditions.Pedal power energy is renewable as well as sustainable and environmentally friendly.“Training and operation are simple and can be done by anyone who wants to cycle,” they say.The students believe that in the future, human energy will be most efficiently harnessed using pedal powered machines.“But it need not be limited to the bicycle. At the time when the ‘appropriateness’ of technology is being questioned daily, the bicycle, perhaps the most appropriate and efficient machine ever invented, is a comeback in many countries. Pedal power offers some possibilities for use in small tasks that otherwise would require handcranking or high payments to the owners of engine-driven equipment,” the students note.Shweta one of the project members say that hopefully in the future, people can look forward to a world of pedal powered laptops, pedal powered grinders and pedal powered water wells.