Ignoring the blatant ethical issues associated with this question, I’m genuinely curious from a scientific standpoint how efficient the human body is at generating energy. I’m a chemical engineering major and after learning about combustion engines and steam generation, there’s a great deal of inefficiency. After taking an intro to biochemistry course it seems like the human body is incredibly efficient at energy efficiency, using food as the fuel. I was also made curious by that one black mirror episode where people rode those standing bikes as their job, I think it was for power generation but I can’t really remember. Would it actually be a good substitute in terms of equivalent power and clean energy? Again, a horrible hypothetical given the history and current use of people in such dehumanizing ways, and if this really isn’t something to be discussed, I apologize.
In: Engineering
Horrible. Biological systems can be incredibly efficient if you’re looking at turning food into energy to keep them alive, but creating food isn’t very efficient in the first place and human bodies aren’t designed to externalize their energy usage in a manner that is mechanically efficient. You also have an “engine” that takes two decades to create and has all of the massive overhead of needing to support a complex neurological system that is intended to allow it to survive and reproduce, not just rotate a mechanical shaft all day long.
Or, to put it in practical terms: You could either put someone on a stationary bike to generate electricity to power a car, or you could just make them ride their bike instead of driving a car. Which sounds more efficient?
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