Some things I do without thinking so on Monday when I hopped into a truck with this unfamiliar man I had met less than an hour ago. Well that, definitely counts as one of those things. We were on our way to meet one of Mr. Holland’s close friends that owns a battery store in the West Huntington. When we got there I told his friend, Mr. Farmer, about my vision to power a sound system with a bicycle and he knew exactly what I needed to accomplish this.

Yeah, that’s right I am building a source of renewable energy called PEDAL POWER.

Pedal powered generators convert revolutions of the bicycle pedals into electricity that can be used to power a variety of things depending on the storage and output capacity of your system.The main parts are a bike, a generator (alternator), a battery, and an inverter. The rear wheel of the bike is attached to a small alternator by a belt. When the wheel spins the alternator at a particular speed the alternator begins to charge the battery. The battery will store the charge and when you are ready to use the power it is pulled out of the battery and converted into a AC power by an inverter. Break a sweat, burn some calories, generate electricity- truly fantastic multitasking.

Anyway, Mr. Farmer donated an inverter and a battery. That was a lot accomplished in less than a half hour. We got back in the truck and went to the electrical shop to make some calls about an alternator. Left mostly messages. After I left the shop I felt like I had been on a television show that has a “big reveal” and when the person finally sees the whole picture they freak out and jump up and down and cry. I totally felt all of that because in my head for months I had been trying to make this work and in three hours on Monday March 9, 2010, it just happened right before my eyes. Everything I can’t do or don't know I will learn. I am getting a crash course in,how to be an electrician, carpenter, engineer etc, because this is my project. I was so excited that I went and filed a grant application to build another one the next day. I can’t wait to get my hands dirty for some clean energy on our campus.

This is truly something anyone can do. There is a ton of information on youtube and through other web sources. If you are on a college campus get to know the people in the physical plant they can really make things happen. My idea wasn’t an original complex solution to cut emissions and transition West Virginia into a clean energy economy; it was just a little project for an event on campus. This Earth Day Marshall won’t be completely off the grid, but our day of awareness will be a small step in the right direction.