Cool ideas: 12 @ 10¢

[resonant]

You know what somebody ought to invent? A commuter train (or, better yet, bus) with a gym in it. Get on, work out, take a shower, get off at work.

You know what else somebody ought to invent? A way to recapture the energy people put out while working out. That way, the commuter bus could run on human effort instead of gasoline!

And maybe then somebody could install an energy-capture elliptical machine in my living room, and tell me I couldn't use the computer till I'd generated enough energy to run it.

Comments

[atropos-lee.livejournal.com]

They are supposed to be building a gym somewhere in London that will capture the energy expended on the treadmills, bikes and studio floors to produce heat and light...

[ecaterin.livejournal.com]

LOL! Love the train :P

For a long time you could buy a generator that you set the rear wheel of your bicycle in. You then pedaled to generate electricity. Plenty of people made themselves pedal to watch TV :D

there is

[wolfdancer.livejournal.com]

a excersise bike with a fan it it that will help[ cool off the gym for the rest of the peaple working out.
I would like one of them. also a rocking chair that was made that hooked to a pump for water back in the early 20 that my grandma told me about.

[the-shoshanna.livejournal.com]

And maybe then somebody could install an energy-capture elliptical machine in my living room, and tell me I couldn't use the computer till I'd generated enough energy to run it.

I have often wished for that very thing!

And my god, I would be in such amazing shape if it were so.

[sapote3.livejournal.com]

This is what I have said!

There was an article a year or two ago about an exerbike / video poker parlour (or something) in Las Vegas where the machines would cut off if you didn't keep peddling. I want something like this, except with my laptop.

Except four hours later I would collapse from exhaustion, having forgotten to take a break the whole time.

But! I would probably live forever if it didn't kill me.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

And then you could hook it up so it would give you pellets!

[sapote3.livejournal.com]

Or fun-sized snickers bars!
We are so ahead of the curve on this.

[vickita.livejournal.com]

One of my more favorite-er stories is about the merry-go-round-powered water pumps (http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/07/playpumps_kid_powered_merrygor.html) they're using in South Africa.

How many times have we all watched little kids run and run and run and run and said, "If only they could find a way to harness all of that energy..."

Somebody finally did. :-)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I read about something like that in Japan, too, though I don't remember the details. It's a cool idea. They should install something like that on every rocking horse on the planet.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

That is fascinating, because all my ideas revolved around sleeping benches, on trains or near work/school. Just the thought of "working out" before or after work, sleepy or exhausted, makes me realise the cultural differences here! :)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing I get adequate sleep more often than you do. Whereas my exercise is usually inadequate.

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

They already exist. I don't know if it's in their current catalog, but gaiam.com had a bicycle assembly hooked up to what was essentially a battery charger in one of their "Real Goods" catalogs. This is a great company, part of the Working Assets group. Real Goods has all kinds of nifty green goodies, like a backpack with built-in solar charger, a hand-crank recharger for cell phones... they've been around for about 30 years and if you want to take your home off the grid, they even have the whole kit to do that. (No, I'm not an employee or shill--they're just a great company.)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

It would be cool to generate at least some of our own energy. I mean, two of the biggest problems in first world countries -- arguably the two biggest -- are people using up too much energy and people not getting enough exercise to keep them healthy.

"Is your house solar powered? Electric powered?" "Human-fat powered!"

[dunv-i.livejournal.com]

There's also a backpack that charges as you walk.

But it only generates, like, 7 volts per hour or something.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I don't even have a clear sense of how much that is. But, yeah, I'm probably wildly overestimating the amount of energy I'd generate in my paltry little 30 minutes on the elliptical machine.

[jillsjourney.livejournal.com]

Some gyms have exercise bikes with built in internet - if you stop pedaling, it stops working. I doubt its really powered by the pedaling, but it forces you to exercise while you're surfing, at least.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Now that is a good idea.

For years I've been saying that if I had to walk a treadmill to use the computer, and if every time I met one of my writing goals the machine gave me some nuts or some berries, I'd probably find life much more viscerally satisfying than I do now.

[maggiebloome.livejournal.com]

Hmm, a busload of treadmills.

...you know what would be much more efficient than that? Walking to work.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Bwah! This did literally make me laugh out loud.

What inspired all this was reading a New Yorker article about cities in which a 40-minute commute is short, a 90-minute commute is common, and two hours is not out of the question. In Atlanta people apparently commute an hour and a half from one outer suburb to another without ever setting foot (or tire) in the city.

Yes, I was at the gym while I was reading the article.

[maggiebloome.livejournal.com]

Hmm. So in that case what you want is galley ships.

[http://users.livejournal.com/ari_/]

Get on, work out, take a shower, get off at work.

... when would I read??

I read ~ 2 books a week on my commute! Need my reading time!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I can read while I use the elliptical machine at the gym. It's the only thing that keeps me going to the gym.

Well, OK, the main thing that keeps me going is the fear of a process I learned about recently that goes: uncontrolled high blood pressure -> damage to tiny blood vessels in the brain -> memory loss and eventual dementia. But being able to read while I do it certainly makes it less painful.