David Butcher: I Pedaled 100,000 Watt-hours
And Saved A Million

A Green Valentine for Mother Earth

Mon Feb 14 2011 - Today, during my morning exercise, I reached a personal goal that I have been working towards for 5 years.

I generated my 100,000th Watt of electricity.

Not with Wind, or Solar, or Hydro. Not with Fossil Fuels or Nuclear.

With me. Just me.

Every morning I pedal a pedal generator of my own design (I call it the Pedal Powered Prime Mover, or PPPM) and the electricity I generate goes into a set of recycled electric car batteries.

From the batteries it flows to all sorts of devices that would otherwise be plugged into the Grid, happily consuming power 24 hours a day whether they were being actively used or not. All those devices are now plugged into me.

The benefits of this simple activity are huge:

• I am in better shape now than I have been for the past 30 years
• I pedaled off 40 pounds
• When I ride my bicycle, I feel like Lance Armstrong! I fear no hill! (and my car stays parked!)
• While I generated 100,000 Wh., I calculate that I saved over a million Wh.

That last point bears repeating - the power I saved by permanently unplugging my devices from the grid and powering them myself is ten times what I actually generated.

It's been a long ride - over 1,500 hours - but I'm not done. I'll be riding tomorrow, and I will be plugging in two new devices that will never see power from the Grid. I'll keep riding, and generating, because it's good for me, and good for the planet.

Happy Valentine's Day, Mother Earth!

See what YOU could have saved! Click the buttons by the devices you can power, and then press the Calculate! button. You could save a Million Wh. too!