jacob wrote: ↑Sat Feb 09, 2019 2:12 pm
For the average modern person that's about 60-80 Watts. So light bulbs and and a laptop are perfectly feasible.
Yeah I was thinking a mix, part pedal power, part reduction of consumption, part solar. Each one reduces current consumption by a little and adds up. The other big easy one I can think of is making telecommuting a tax benefit for companies through incentives. You could cut out a good third of the countries oil use (commuting), and a lot of the money spent on infrastructure and heating/lighting offices.
The health benefits from pedal power would be huge. It's a more optimal solution than what were doing now as a society. More health + less consumption = win/win.
Re: washing machines etc, what is the actual monthly power draw vs monthly cycling power stored in the batteries? if you've got a cheapo Arduino/pi style computer pulling 5-10 watts to do most of the work, and 3-4 LEDs, you'll have a large surplus. The battery system is important. Extending it even further you could have oxen and a windmill pulling their dynos to get even more power stored up

and they oxen could cut the grass for you!