A Copenhagen Hotel Uses Guests To Pay The Light Bill, So To Speak

Have you ever heard of a hotel that has its customers pay the light bill

? Now you have. A Copenhagen hotel has begun using its guest in order to generate electricity.

The Crown Plaza Copenhagen Towers has always prided itself in being the "greenest" hotel in the world and now it has taken green to a whole new level. The hotel has now equipped its workout room with a new type of electricity-generating exercise bike. Each bike will come with an iPhone that is mounted on the handlebars in order to show the biker much power he or she has produced for the hotel.

While you may think that the idea is somewhat crazy, there is something in it for all the sweat that the guests put into the energy supply. A free meal will be rewarded to any guest who produces 10-watt hours or more. This would be relatively easy according to the hotel's calculations which suggest that a guest cycling at 30 kph will produce around 100 watt-hours of electricity in an hour's time. This would mean that a guest would only have to pedal for six minutes in order to receive their free meal.

Allan Agerholm, general manager, said of the idea, "The electric bikes offer our guests the chance to get fit and help power the hotel at the same time. It will be interesting to see how many guests take part and how much electricity we generate."

Critics of the project say that the amount of energy produced by these bikes is small in comparison to the amount of energy that a hotel of its magnitude consumes; however, the hotel says that it wants the target to be "achievable."

Alex Randall, spokesman for the Centre for Alternative Technology said, "Realistically, this isn't a practical way of generating a useful amount of energy, but I certainly wouldn't criticize it. As a lesson, and a means of public engagement, it's excellent. If you sit someone on a bike, pedalling hard, and show them they are only generating enough to power one light bulb or TV, is makes them appreciate how difficult energy is to produce, and therefore why we should be careful not to waste it."

The biking scheme is one that is being tested in the hotel for a year in order to see if it will be successful enough to incorporate into 21 other Crowne Plaza hotels in the United Kingdom.

by: Marcus Gallon

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