{"id":15264,"date":"2013-01-04T12:45:57","date_gmt":"2013-01-04T18:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=15264"},"modified":"2017-09-19T20:11:35","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T00:11:35","slug":"pedal-powered-diy-projects-a-metaguide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/pedal-powered-diy-projects-a-metaguide\/","title":{"rendered":"Pedal Powered DIY Projects: a Metaguide"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"a<\/a>
A pedal powered concert. Credit: photopin<\/a> cc<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’ve been fascinated by the potential of leveraging pedal power at least since we tried (and failed) to do so with our blogathon in 2010<\/a>. It strikes me as one of the simplest approaches to clean power currently available… and, when coupled with a battery, could even become a short-term source of backup power. Or, you could keep it simple, and focus on leveraging human power<\/a> and a bike-like set up to accomplish specific tasks: from making a morning smoothie (or evening margaritas) to pumping water to shelling nuts. In the developing world, such “machines” can save people a ton of time (that could be better spent elsewhere); in more developed countries, pedal power can cut our reliance on fossil fuels (a little anyway), and give us another way to work physical activity into our routines.<\/p>\n

After coming across Maya Pedal recently (which I’ll discuss below), I got curious about other collections of do-it-yourself pedal power projects. They’re out there – while there is quite a bit of overlap in the lists below, each offers some unique takes on harnessing human power.<\/p>\n

First: a Look at the Possibilities<\/h3>\n

Peak Moment Television<\/a> released this episode on human powered machines (and someone who designs them) last October. If you’re just interested in the potential here, take a half hour to see the many ways pedal power can be harvested<\/p>\n