18-02-2010

When it comes to discovering new energy sources, worldwide researchers certainly show imagination! A young man studying design in London had the ridiculous but promising idea of recovering the energy generated by cyclists to store it and release it as electricity. An invention that is particularly well suited for city rental bikes. Chi-Yu Chen developed a battery, integrated in the handlebars, which recovers energy from both pedalling and braking. Once at destination, bicycles are placed in bike stations where batteries’ electricity is transferred to the city’s electricity network. And if the latter powers electric buses, all the better! The virtuous cyclists are then rewarded with “energy credits”, stored on small chip cards, to be spent on public transport. Bike stations would be placed along the bus network to encourage the use of different non polluting means of transportation. Chi-Yu Chen is not the only one to investigate this new source of energy. During the December 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the use of fixed bicycles mounted at the base of a huge Christmas tree generated enough electricity to power its illuminations… Exercise bike manufacturers are also looking into it: imagine the amount of electricity a fitness club could generate!

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