Energy Solutions

I don’t pretend that this is an original idea. It isn’t, but I think it is a practical solution to our energy and fitness woes wrapped up into one.

Have you seen those radios and flashlights that work by cranking them up to charge the battery? They were an invention, I believe, of one of the Communist country armies. They are great. You work for a minute or so and you have enough power generated to do whatever you want for several minutes.

When I was at the YMCA last week, I started wondering. What if I hooked up some of the machines I use to something that generates electricity? This way you could combine the exercise we need for a sedentary society with the need to find alternate sources of energy.

Do you want to watch television? Hop on the bike and start pedalling.

Do your kids spend too much time on the computer playing video games? If they have to generate their own power, they will be getting the exercise some of them lack. The greater their habit, the more work they will have to do to feed it. The more fit they will become.

Worried about the price of gasoline rising? Get an electric car. Again, work that you do on exercise machines will help power it. If your teenager wants to borrow it on a Saturday night, guess what? He will have to do some work.

The way I figure it, if we can use a lot of the energy we use to create alternate forms, then that is a bonus. All I need is someone to help me invent this system.