A review of available techno-fixes leads to two unavoidable conclusions. First, our problem is not just carbon emissions per se; it’s also how we humans inhabit our planet (too many of us using too much stuff too fast). And second, we need non-technological ways of addressing the climate crisis.
do you have any source for that number about the amount of power genrrated from a human please? also a source about the efficiency with which different forms of generation translate to energy?
Also I find it devastating that places like the global north and oceania use some of the largest amounts of energy but the people st the Equator will oay the highest price for this in the next 50-200 years…
It’s just a simple calculation of how much endurance athletes, like marathon runners, can expend in energy, compared to the actual percent of energy used to drive a turbine. But if you actually look at the power produced on the machine itself, you have to grapple with human efficiency being only at about 30%.
Among cyclists fit enough to hook up a fitness tracker to their workouts, 150 W is probably about the average power output people can maintain, for about an hour. That’s 150 Wh.
Train them up to where they can average 200W for 2 hours per day, and you’re basically hitting 400 Wh/day. That’s less than 1/3 of the number I made in my previous comment of assuming perfect efficiency instead of 30% efficiency.
This article breaks down the assumptions of what is feasible for 8 hours per day, estimates that the typical person can cover 2.4% of their electricity needs by cycling 8 hours per day, every day.
This thread shows some similar analysis, including a television program where they got 80 cyclists to power a home for 4 hours.
There’s just no feasible way around it. You’re better off taking that human food, setting it on fire, and boiling water for a steam turbine, rather than increasing humans’ caloric consumption to support large scale human-powered generators.
thanks