Morning Buzz: Human-powered products

Imagine if peddling on a stationary bike could power your home appliances? Some inventors are working on products that do just that… human-powered products.

According to CNN.com, human-power is becoming more popular as more businesses strive to go green. Human power is powering a California gym and is being looked at to create gyms in Portland, Oregon and New York City… As well as a dance club in the Netherlands (it’s already powering one in London).
So, how does it work? It harvests energy: taking energy from one source (humans) and using it to power an object. You can connect exercise machines to batteries or generators which collect the energy.
To power the dance club CNN reports two methods have been developed, one is putting crystals in blocks under the dance floor. As people dance, the crystals rub together and that generates an electrical charge when fed into batteries. The second way is using wheels to generate energy under a slightly moving floor using coils and magnets to create a charge. These methods can’t totally power a club… but can help cut down on the use of other energy sources.
There are critics, though, who say this is more of statement than anything else and question how efficient human power is… and how economical it is.
What are your thoughts?

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