Power your press by pedal power

[Cory Smith]

Saw this on Going Green today, what a cool idea. Could open a line of health gyms / print shops

http://sections.whattheythink.com/en...chnology-front
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On the other end of the spectrum, we have “human-powered technology.” Not only is PB Copy, a Surrey, BC, based business, running a RISO printer on “pedal power,” the company has replaced all their traditional fluorescent bulbs and ballasts with LEDs. The result? An electric bill that has dropped to less than 2/3 of previous charges and bulbs that never have to be changed.

Kevin LaHay, co-owner of PB Copy, explains how the company moved to bicycle power:

It started when my girlfriend wanted a treadmill and I wanted to get an exercise bike. I wondered if there was any way that I could generate electricity while getting fit. I’d heard that you could watch tv from peddling a bike, so when I found the apparatus, I wondered if there was anything at work I could power with it. So here we are, we have a RISO machine that draws about 600 watts, and with our solar and the bike, we can run it on 100% renewable resource power, completely off the grid.
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