I went to college in the late 70′s, a few years too late to be part of the big protest era that swept campuses during the Vietnam war.
Back then, student power meant the power to influence policy and university administrators. Today has a whole new green meaning.
When students at Oregon State University climb aboard one of 22 elliptical exercise machines at the recreation center, that workout is being converted into renewable energy. OSU uses technology from a company called ReRev.com to turn the machines into little generators that feed electricity back into the power grid.
Some health clubs in the Portland area got some media attention after setting up similar programs. The whole concept has always struck me as too gimmicky to be taken seriously.
But, Brandon Trelstad, the OSU sustainability coordinator says students will be sweating some 3,500 kilowatt hours of electricity in a year. Or, in his words, enough “to power a small, very efficient house.”
