Artist A. Laurie Palmer had her brainstorm while swimming in the
pool at a fancy Harvard University gym. She glanced up at dozens of
stationary bicyclers and started thinking about "all those people
plugged in and using energy to exercise in place."
Why not harness the power they were expending to go nowhere? Maybe
it could help reduce the nation’s dependency on oil. So she created an
online art project that urges participants to figure out ways to turn
exercisers into energy generators.
Now, the ongoing Notions of Expenditure
project is about a year old, and 18 people have contributed proposals
ranging from the whimsical to the political to the bizarre.
One contributor offers her "Inflationary Universe"
idea, in which a StairMaster user inflates a new universe — à la the
Big Bang — with the help of a couple of "bellow-style foot pumps."
Another suggests that stationary bicyclists could produce enough energy to support tomato gardens.
The idea of producing power by harnessing human energy isn’t new.
Back in the 19th century, researchers studied prisoners at Bellevue
Prison in New York as they walked on a treadmill as punishment. They
produced about 100 watts each, with the energy used to grind grain to
make bread for the prisoners, said Steve Vogel, professor of biology at Duke University.
"Apparently they hated it roundly," he said. Now, of course, people
pay good money to do the same thing — and use up electricity in the
process.
Randy Dotinga
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