Powered by the People! Stationary Bikes Provide Juice for Concert
Apparently we missed quite a time last month in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, a local band called Off the Grid with a Soulful Purpose performed a concert entirely powered by audience members pedaling stationery bikes.
For three hours (!) the band played on, with the electricity for their lights, instruments and sound equipment coming from generators hooked up to six stationary bicycles. The event was sponsored by a group at Marquette University, Students for an Environmentally Active Campus.
""People feel like they're really part of the show, not just spectators," band technician Dan O'Brien told the Marquette Tribune. "What we're hoping happens is that this becomes an awareness thing because people get to experience it for themselves by doing it."
It would be interesting to see the specifics of how this actually worked. I'm sure you've seen the demos at a science museum or exhibit at a fair of some guy pedaling like mad on an exercise bike and barely able to light a 60-watt bulb. To crank up enough juice to power a whole band is an impressive achievement. I'm going to dig a little and see if I can't find out more.
Image: Lauren Stoxen/Marquette Tribune
Comments
I looking forward to what you find out. Everything I’ve read suggests that power from a bike is there, but not very substantial.
There was a display at marquette during the show where you could get on a bike and feel the difference between pedalling to power a whole tree of LED lights vs. lighting one single 60 watt bulb. All four trees of stage lights used hundreds of LED bulbs which when combined still use less wattage than one traditional stage spotlight.