Increasingly more people are affected by sedentarism, mostly through the activities that take place vastly in the office. A job based on office activities requires long periods of physical sedentarism and represents an increased risk in the occurrence of heart problems. In the idea of combining office work with physical activity, the designers from Pedal Power Design, Willsboro, NY, have developed a structured desk on a static bike, Big Rig. Why use the bicycle only when you cycle or transport? When you can turn it into a desk and more than that, this bike system can be used to produce energy when you type. Therefore, while you work at your desk, you can pedal at the bike and so your laptop will be powered or you can recharge your phone battery.
Andy Wekin and Steve Blood, the designers from Pedal Power, say that an employee that pedals 2 hours a day can generate energy equivalent to 3-6 hours of charging your laptop or 30-40 hours of charging your mobile phone. Therefore, you work at the office, do sport and produce energy. The designers speak about their project: “There are a billion bicycles in the world today – nearly one in every home. One day, we hope to see every household charging phones, processing food, and pumping water with pedal power. Our Big Rig is designed for off-grid applications and features a work surface, ergonomic seat for comfort, quick adjustments for different riders, a flywheel to smooth pedaling, a wide range of gearing, and an all-steel, hand-built frame. An average adult can use it to generate 100 watts of electricity, pump 5 gallons of water per minute, grind a variety of grains, as well as operate an air compressor, a hydraulic pump, most any hand-cranked machine, and a variety of small shop tools. It has been found to be particularly suitable for small scale agricultural applications such as cracking grains, churning butter, and pumping water.”
Equipped with an electric generator and batteries, Big Rig can produce an average power of 75 watts. Using your own power to produce energy, this can be fun and healthy and this will help you understand different the energy consumption and eventually you will reduce your ecological footprint. However, I think that you should not torture yourself by pedaling continuously throughout the work day, with the idea that you will reduce the electricity bill of the company.
