Chinese Seniors at "Outdoor Gym" Generate Electricity For Local TVs
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden 
on 01. 9.09
Six exercise bikes lined up in the street of Beijing's Fengtei district look in this video clip like toys with their bright purple and chartreuse components, and the senior citizens riding the bikes certainly don't seem like they are trying to get anywhere fast - in the clip they are barely pushing the pedals hard enough to keep the bikes in motion.
But these retirees are proud that they are not only getting exercise to maintain their health - they are also generating around 180 watts of power per hour, saved to a row of batteries that are later dropped off to low-income local residents to run TVs and other electric devices. It's senior power at its best.
Outdoor gyms and now outdoor exercise equipment where people of all ages can freely participate in light exercise are becoming common in China. The Chinese government has installed 3.4 million square meters of public equipment in the last decade. Dong Gao Di is the first suburb to link the outdoor gym to batteries which are then loaned free of charge to low-income families for use on electric appliances.
A fully charged battery can power the TV for between 10 - 11 hours. The elderly and retired people which form a large part of Beijing's population and intensely use local parks and open spaces get to use the bikes for free, and in the video they are proud to be staying in shape and generating useful electricity for others. Via: Sky News
Photo from The Beijing Daily.
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The watt is a unit of power, not of energy. The phrase "180 watts of power per hour" is meaningless. They were generating 180 watts of power. Per-hour has no place in that concept.
If they were generating that much and the pedals were moving slowly, they must have the bike set to a high level of resistance. 180 watts is a pretty good output. Not fantastic, but good for a retiree.
Driving the batteries around from place to place probably wastes more energy(1 gallon of gas contains 36kwh) than the batteries provide to the people that use them.
They should have the exercise equipment connected directly to the grid with an inverter. Then the electricity would be efficiently distributed.
The power company should pay them (meter spins backwards) and then they could use the money to subsidize the energy bills of low income residents.
Anybody know who makes or sells this bike?
see also: California Fitness - Go green with this light gym workout
http://www.stichtingmilieunet.nl/andersbekekenblog/?p=6183
To paulwesterberg: Nothing in the article or links to suggest they drive the batteries around to drop them off. Maybe they walk, or get sent on a bicycle.