blogUT

We here at BlogUT are dependable admirers of cycling. Not only is it an enjoyable way to get exercise while traveling across the city, but it’s also a real step towards reducing our environmental footprints (and hey, it’s just plain sexy).

Stationary exercise bikes have always seemed agonizing to us (or at least for this BlogUTer), only because there is such a huge amount of wasted energy (you know, the bike doesn’t move).

Welobike, a Toronto organization, is remedying this issue with the introduction of their energy-harvesting bike. The prototype is a basic home exercise bike rigged up to a generator (made from a car alternator). The bike has the potential of generating 50 W of electricity per hour from pedaling and stores the clean green energy into an array of car batteries. The $1000 prototype was designed by Jerid LeClair of NBSInnovativeSolutions.com, but will cost much less once the bikes actually start being sold.

At their benefit concert tonight at the Annex Wreckroom, Welobike hopes to raise enough money to purchase these bikes to donate to The Gateway Homeless Shelter, who they are partnering up with for the event. The bikes will serve to light up some of their rooms on a continuous basis.

The concert will be hosted by local emcee Ill Seer, and will feature various genres of music, including folk-rock singer Julia Churchill, indie sensation Elephant and soulful hiphop by The Runaway.

Volunteers are still needed for tonight. For more information, contact [email protected].

When: Tonight, 8 p.m.
Where: Annex Wreckroom
Details: $10 if you contact [email protected] in advance or $15 at the door. Check out their Facebook event page for more information.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 11:14 am and is filed under Arts, Athletics & Health, Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.