Engineering Students Create Energy-Producing Bikes From Trash To Power Film Festival

A team of engineering students in France designed novel energy-producing wooden bikes from trash which were employed to power a film festival being screened at St. Étienne. This project commenced last year when a bunch of engineering students at School of Mines in Saint-Étienne initiated ‘eco-projections’ where documentary films were shown by deriving power off the energy-producing bikes. They grouped up to create a collective called ‘Open Sources’ where they designed many plastic bike prototypes in tandem with a local design firm.

This year though, they attempted the extreme by developing new prototypes on the lines of the original bikes, with recycled trash for bike parts. While slats from old beds were utilized to make the curved seat, discarded wooden grocery crates and old church benches went in to form the bike’s frame. Old table legs formed the base.



These seats may not be as comfy as what you usually get in your multiplex, their performance totally justifies their usage. Recently they were deployed for the Curious Travelers Film Festival, where documentaries from around the world were being projected, and a 54 minute documentary was successfully shown with the energy generated from pedaling three reclining.

All modest tasks that require electricity could be accomplished using one bike which generates around 100W. Though deriving power off bikes is not a new concept, what’s novel here is developing a complete bike out of trash and then accomplishing the same.

Check out the project description <a href="https://www.echo-system.fr/objet/curieuzenergies/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Curieuz'énergies</a>. Image courtesy Open Sources.