Future Spark

Bikes that harnessed enough human energy to power a rock concert are visiting Victorian primary and secondary schools to introduce students to the potential of green technologies.

The bikes, designed and built by ideas*, powered the Melbourne Earth Hour Concert in Federation Square in March, which featured performers including Augie March, Renee Geyer and Nic Cester from Jet.

In order to power the three-hour concert’s lighting and amplifiers, ideas* designed and built a trailer that combined the people power of 16 bikes and solar panels that completely offset the event’s energy requirements.

About 1200 members of the public donated their time to take part in a team challenge between 23 and 28 March, which, combined with the solar panels, generated more than 67,000 Watt hours of power, exceeding the requirement to power the concert by 12,000 Watt hours.

The bikes are now visiting schools across Melbourne and regional Victoria as part of the Future Sparks Energy Awareness Incursion Program and will appear in an up-coming episode of Neighbours.

Ideas* Principal Projects Director Geoff Ball said the tour built on the aim of the event to uncover the mystery of energy use in a highly engaging and tangible way.

He said: “By personally generating the energy for the concert, we gained a down-to-earth understanding of how much energy we can produce individually. We can now compare our capacity to other sources such as solar, wind and fuel and discover new respect and awareness of the amount of energy consumed by a large event, such as a concert. At the same time, this initiative provided us with a concrete understanding of the difference that can be made by using high efficiency technology.”

The bikes were built using recycled washing machine motors to convert pedal power into electricity in order to reduce the environmental impact of their construction and materials. The technology used enabled riders to receive individual feedback on their performances, which encouraged them to ride faster, and resulted in increased energy output.

Geoff Ball said the design of the bikes and the project was an example of using creative problem-solving to find solutions to environmental issues, such as energy consumption.

He said: “This project arose from our conviction that engineering and technical development is a fundamental aspect of sustainable human societies, and that these solutions will be most compelling when embraced by the community. Our success in delivering this project is not particularly related to the inspiration of the original idea, more importantly the application of creative problem solving within a structure of engineering and project management discipline.”

Ideas* Managing Director Mike Percy said: “It is so important for the students of today and leaders of tomorrow to see the potential of human creativity and energy and the role that they can plan in contributing to environmental sustainability in the future. These bikes are a tangible example of what can be done and the part that individuals can play in making a difference. Hopefully, it inspires the students to consider their energy use and stimulates an interest in finding a solution to the environmental problems that we are facing.”

Ideas* is now considering using the bikes to power future events in Melbourne to further spread the message of energy use and the role that technology can play in creating a sustainable future.