My brother and I once put together a dolls house with furnishing made of reused packaging and other waste. It had lighting throughout the house and a mini-washing machine, all powered with energy generated by pedaling on a static bicycle. It was an educational aid meant to make you physically experience the demands of producing electricity. The result was rather intricate and exquisite but probably too fragile so I fear it didn’t serve its purpose for long.
Recently, I have seen a couple of museum exhibits based on similar principle that struck me by their simplicity and clean execution. The Eco Homes at the Geffrye Museum featured a machine with hand pedals that powered either a conventional light-bulb or the most common energy-sawing bulb or the new LED bulb. Switching between the bulbs was like switching gears on a bicycle. An immediate physical experience instead of having to read a label and think about what is says.
In the Centre for Life in Newcastle I saw another exhibit, this time a bit more complex. The idea was to supply a city with all the energies and services it needs to function while also removing all the waste.
A nicely stylized model had a handle, a lever, a pump, pedals.., each representing a different need of the city: water, electricity, transport, waste removal… When you started pumping, indicators showed, accompanied by appropriate sounds, that waste was being removed from the city.
Obviously, this exhibit would be best enjoyed by a group so all the needs of the city can be attended at once. I wonder whether there is any special surprise to be had when it’s done. Unfortunately, I was visiting on my own and there was no one else anywhere near in the gallery so I didn’t find out.
