Would you do it ???

if they created jobs for people riding stationary bikes to create energy...

just think they could employ thousands in every state...

just riding a stationary bike to meet a suitable quota 5 days a week

$120 a day to meet you quota.... direct deposit only to reduce the pay use...

they could employ millions and pay them a good wage while keeping ppl in shape

reduce the use of coal

they could power homes, cars, building, public transit etc

would you do it... or would you think your too good for it ???

The answer to this for most people would depend on their work and health situations. I could see a lot of people doing this as an alternative to "normal" workouts. So, someone might have a day job but "freelance" as a cyclist. Doing this on a daily basis, for many, could be harmful to their bodies long-term, without proper nutrition and such. So I don't think it would be viable as a full-time gig.

I'm not sure about the scientific viability of this, but this is ridiculously far from any expertise I have. Is this strictly a hypothetical? Or would it potentially be commercially viable to do something like this?

$120 a day is a lot more than living wage, though. I'd imagine the market for it would stabilize somewhat lower than that, once companies figured out what they could pay.

Yeah, not sure each single person would produce considerably more than $120.00 worth of electricity per day (what would need to happen for the power companies to make a profit/sustain) by pumping some bike pedals.

Now I don't see why prisoners couldn't be used though. Have them do something that gives back to their communities, instead of making jail-house booze and anally raping each other.

Imagine that, every prison yard in the US filled with stationary bikes and inmates pumping away and making electricity for 16hrs a day, minus meal and rest breaks. /genius

Burning the food the people eat is a more efficient way to create energy.

According to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_performance a top amateur cyclist at 70kg can produce about 350 watts (assuming we could harness 100% of it). The average price for a kilowatt hour in the United States is 12 cents. So our top cyclist here could make a sweet 4.2 cents an hour, or a shiny dollar if he cycled all day long.

To answer Digi's question of commercial viability in as clear a term as I can find: "lol no"

Heh. Figured as much, but thanks for confirming it.

This is still useful as a thought experiment. But even if we could produce more watts in a day, the market would undoubtedly settle at less than $120. Because, frankly, $120/day works out to a little over 30K a year, which is more than a healthy percentage of the population makes. There would be no shortage of takers.

Originally posted by Shabazz916
if they created jobs for people riding stationary bikes to create energy...

just think they could employ thousands in every state...

just riding a stationary bike to meet a suitable quota 5 days a week

$120 a day to meet you quota.... direct deposit only to reduce the pay use...

they could employ millions and pay them a good wage while keeping ppl in shape

reduce the use of coal

they could power homes, cars, building, public transit etc

would you do it... or would you think your too good for it ???

Yes! I could hook up my computer to the thing and post here while getting payed.

However, my gut feeling is that it takes more energy to feed and house me then I could create on a bike.

Isn't this like the cow farts study that congress was doing? Harness the entorpy.

Dude...you should be the ****ing president...

No.

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
Yes! I could hook up my computer to the thing and post here while getting payed.

However, my gut feeling is that it takes more energy to feed and house me then I could create on a bike.

if you set the resistance far enough you actually could

My first act as President wouldn't be to pardon a turkey either. I like to think Obama is doing good outreach though. He has a way with other countries.