How much energy can be generated from using a stationary bike?
Answer:
Racer mate has built the computrainer to measure wattage output.
In a group of 24 cyclists ranging 16 - 61 yr in age.
Average Age: 33.17yr (standard deviation 12.97, range 16yr-61yr)
Average Max Power for 1 min: 367.46 watts (st dev 62.74w, range 263w-487w)
Average Max Heart Rate: 187.29bpm (st dev 12.16bpm, range 163bpm-211bpm)
Next they were measured in a simulated 10 mile ride
Average Time: 25min 52sec (st dev 1min 50sec, range 29min 09sec - 23min 02sec)
Average Power Output: 286.46 watts (st dev 49.88w, range 215w - 375w)
Next to object to be powered requirements
Rear projector: 0.14 watt per square inch
LCD: 0.29 watt per square inch
Plasma: 0.34 watt per square inch
CRT: 0.34 watt per square inch
These are not universal as some LCDs are as low as 0.11 watt-per-square-inch, but some go as high as 0.37 watt.
Power consumption compared
TVs:
Average plasma: 328 watts
Average rear-projection: 208 watts
Average LCD: 193 watts
Average CRT: 146 watts
Theoretically this could power a TV needing no more than 200- 250 Watts since a healthy person can maintain this for an hour.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?...
Another difficulty comes in translating that power from man to machine with no loss and in a steady supply. The machine costs $319. Meanwhile it costs between $31 and $223 a year to watch TV depending on whether you want a small CRT or a huge LCD set.
Maybe it makes more sense to keep a smaller TV and watch less than buy a machine to process your cycling time into viewing time.
Keeping the rubber on the road
Depends on who is pedalling. and how long you want to keep making the electricity.
You aren't generating energy., you are converting food energy via use of muscles into mecanical energy and then converting that into electricity.
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be changed in form.
Matter is just a method of storing energy. E=MC^2
You always need to look at the data. An average person can maintain roughly about 100 watts for an hour. Obviously an athlete or someone who exercises a lot can do more.
Enough for someone in an undeveloped country to run a small computer, or to give them some light.
Nowhere near enough to make a dent in powering a modern home. Or running a fuel cell car.
It's about 1 cent worth of electricity, and would power an average home for a few minutes.
Enough to run a small TV so you can have some entertainment while burning calories. As for the calories burned it is cheaper to pay for the electricity than the food to fuel your body.
We really don't need to go to a Flintstones type world.
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