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Sustainable Design

Human vs. Toaster: Proof That Pedal-Power Is Not the Next Sustainable Energy Solution

World champion track cyclist übermensch Robert Förstemann attempts to toast one slice of bread with his legs. And only JUST manages.

By Sam Dunne - June 23, 2015

It's around this time of year that we catch the first glimpses of the next batch of remarkable design talent soon to be unleashed on to the world. It's also a time—reminiscing whilst pouring over graduation projects—that we're reminded of our own college-day optimistic naivety. I mean, just look at all these wonderful if wildly impractical design solutions!

If I had a penny for every pedal-powered sustainable power project...I could probably have paid an olympic athlete to demonstrate how unrealistic these propositions can be. Fortunately, students at Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts have done that for us.

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There's a common misconception that our bodies—if tasked with doing so—could produce the power that our increasingly consuming lives demand. Any engineer worth their salt will tell you that this is pure fallacy—the conversion from human to appliance being absolutely abysmal. Sure we can wind up a radio or keep those mini-screens on those gym bikes going but we quickly hit our limit when the energy demands get higher—anything involving heating for example.

By means of demonstrating this inconvenient truth, Robert Förstemann took on the challenge of heating a single slice of toast in a 700 Watt toaster with the incredible strength of his 74cm diameter thighs. Setting out at a steady 50km/h Förstemann battles with maintaining pace to keep the toaster going—the power required equivalent to climbing a 40 degree incline.

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Managing to keep the toaster going for just long enough to give the bread a slight golden brown, Förstemann crashed out exhausted from the excursion —an important lesson in energy usage (I'll never look at my toaster the same way again!). If Förstemann's meaty limbs can't cook a slice of bread what chance do the rest of us have!

Design students: beware the human-powered fallacy!

Sam Dunne

Sam Dunne is a designer, strategist and writer based in London. Sam is founder of design strategy agency Cohere and Contributing Editor at Core77—reporting broadly on design, technology, food and object culture.

9 Comments

Bean Waxler

4 years ago

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Your 52" tv, Playstation, blueray player, aquarium with light and bubbles, laptop, printer, tablet, phone, mp3 player, fitbit, e-reader, 3 desk lamps, two overhead lights, light up Elvis statue with "hunk of burnin' love" motion, and the camera you have cleverly concealed in your bedroom hamper use less energy combined than a toaster.

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John Smith

4 years ago

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Does anyone even use an editor or proofread anymore? Have we we become that dependent on spellcheck? Bicycles have "pedals".

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Tomas Barahona

4 years ago

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First, without showing technical data of experiment equipment it cannot be stated that "Proof That Pedal-Power Is Not the Next Sustainable Energy Solution". Video edition allows anything.

Now, if you're going to compare a human vs a power-plant using conventional generators... OF COURSE NOT... The use of a bike to generate electricity from a conventional generator is misleading, because the bike wasn't intended to be used that way. See http://www.mayapedal.org/ and behold people moving electric appliances that needs more than 1000 (electric) Watts.

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Abner Manuel Pérez Mesa

4 years ago

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Pedal energy is a real solution for a cleaner world. For example, use a bicycle, not a car.
This experiment is bad done, because:

1º An olimpic cyclist can generate 1.900W of real power, not only 700W. In this experiment, the gear ratio is wrong adjusted. For maximun pedal power, the cadence of cyclist must be faster:http://eltiodelmazo.com/2014/04/02/vatios-de-potencia-en-el-ciclismo-quienes-son-los-que-mas-vatios-generan/

2º The efficiency of that toaster is very bad. A good designed toaster for pedal power can toast whith half the power or less, so anyone could toast whith his power

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Sean Horita

4 years ago

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My favorite was the design 'concept' that combined an e-bike share program with imitation solar 'tree' leaves and a bus system. People would ride around and charge the bikes and then feed the power back into the buses so they could go farther. The renderings were very beautiful.

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Jerry Elmore

4 years ago

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I am curious to know if this was a single-gear scenario.

There's something to be said about using the mechanical advantage of gears to maximize work so I wouldn't be as dismissive of using human power as a sustainable source of energy.

DHL had an exhibit during the Formula E in Miami and had several fixed gears bikes to demo how much electricity one could generate in one minute. I was wearing cargo shirts, didn't even stretch first which was not very wise, and didn't drink any water prior to this burst of unplanned demanding physical work. I, too, generated 700 w of electricity and was equally spent only after 45 seconds.

I nearly needed Obamacare.

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Christopher Jung

4 years ago

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what kind of inverter losses are we to consider? Also, you could have toasted 2 slices since both sides of the toaster are heated by the element.

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- Christopher Jung
  
  4 years ago
  
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  I am not sure about this. In theory you could use both sides, but in reality I think the toast absorbs the heat energy from the element. Adding toast would add more energy required. Currently the toaster is lined with a reflector as to reflect the radiant heat back toward the toast and not lose as much.
  
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  - John Moran
    
    4 years ago
    
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    Christopher - the toaster uses 700W whether it has zero, one or two slices in it. The electrical power dissipates the power in the resistance of the element - there is no feedback to reduce that power whether you had the toaster in a totally insulated box, or whether you had the naked element in free space.
    
    Yes, there is a second-order effect whereby the resistance of the element is dependent on the temperature and so affects the power absorbed, but it is a minimal effect.
    
    Regards - John
    
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