PIO shows pedal power |
A Person of Indian Origin( PIO) showed us how even pedalling a stationary cycle for an hour can generate power worth running two lights and a fan all day without grid electricity. American billionaire Manoj Bhargava claimed this at a Delhi event. Wonder if this could help overcome India`s rural electrification challenge. This Lucknow-born , founder of 5 Hour Energy, a popular energy drink in the US, styled himself as "entrepreneur and philanthropist" on Twitter. He claims to lead a simple life-making his own cereal breakfast and doing his own dishes-and is known to avoid the limelight, but for now he wants all the attention on Free Electric, his human-powered generator that will be made and sold in India March 2016 onwards. The model Bhargava showed off recently was visibly smaller and less expensive than the prototype! It uses regular wire-spoked bicycle wheels fitted with weights for a flywheel. The device will cost Rs 12,000-15,000 with a storage battery and probably bulbs too. And he claims it is more practical than solar panels for Indian villages because any mechanic who can repair a bicycle can fix it. Solar panels have to deal with the rain, dust etc in India.
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