Way cool! Want to produce some pedal power for a free meal?

[Bike Chick]

How cool is that??? We need to take lessons from these folks. 36% of the city's population commutes to work??? That's marvelous! And I wonder if you have a limit to what you can order for your efforts?? Do they have a special "power generator menu" or could you order anything you want with dessert and a cappucino?

[sfa]

I doubt they'll go broke doing this.

Most likely this isn't about reducing energy use/increasing production so much as it is about raising awareness and, through that, increasing their business. They will only have a certain number of bicycles available for this, and will probably only allow one free meal (which will cost them a lot less than the market value of it) per session, so even if you stay on for an hour you're only going to get one meal. Since they seem to be catering to business travelers who will see this as a replacement for their planned trip to the gym, they will most likely only be giving out a handful of free meals each day (assuming the business travelers have other places to be most of the day).

In return for these free meals, they are getting a bit of generated electricity and a LOT of publicity. I know I had never heard of this hotel before today, and now I know the name, their location (even in the UK) and that they are a creative company that supports causes I support. That's a pretty good tradeoff for them.

Sarah