Is it feasible to generate useful amounts of electricity by having people manually generate it, e.g. by riding an exercise bike?

Question

I’m not familiar with the mechanics of electricity generation and such, so I’m curious if there are good reasons why this isn’t possible or useful.

Edit: thanks for the great responses! I gather that the main problems revolve around the fact that it will take more energy to outfit the machinery and feed the people than you’ll get in return.

In: 5

Answer 1

At some point in Britain, during the industrial revolution, prisoners were used as labor to do nearly that. They didn’t generate electricity, but they did spin a shaft which could have a generator attached to it. Thoughty2 did a video on it. They didn’t use bikes, they had these stair-climber things, but it was more like they were climbing on the top of a hamster wheel. People were sometimes used inside of giant hamster wheels, and I’ve seen people wind the spring in a pumpkin launcher using that method.

So yes, it’s feasible, but it’s not what anyone would describe as “fun.”