Drew Anderson
What are bike generators?
Bicycle generators are a way to promote both fitness and cycling as well as reduced energy use.
So they’re essentially stand-alone bikes that produce electricity?
We have gear that pedal-powers electric generators for lights and sound systems and fans. Then we also are able to produce bike-powered blenders so smoothies that are pedal-powered.
So that’s sort of the reward for people after they go through the effort of generating some electricity?
Yup and realizing how much work it takes to make a smoothie or power a sound system is a big part of our reality in Calgary where we take energy for granted.
You have signs showing how much energy you’re generating on the bike correct?
Yeah so our system can put out up to 300 watts which would power a sound system or thousands of LED lights but isn’t nearly enough to power things like a foot heater in your office or a large-screen TV that are real energy hogs.
How long have you been running this program?
Open Streets Calgary is based on projects across North America and it started in 2012.
So this is part of Open Streets Calgary?
Yup.
What is Open Streets Calgary for those who don’t know.
The name comes from using our public spaces and our streets for community events and for celebrations not just for driving your car around. Some of the most famous open streets are in Times Square in New York where they’ve just permanently closed Times Square to vehicle traffic and announced that they’ll be putting an additional $40 million into upgrades. So it’s happening around the world in progressive cities to create more public spaces and open up the streets to people. In Calgary Open Streets is a collaboration between a number of groups — First Calgary and Mountain Equipment Co-op for example along with groups like Bike Root and Bike Calgary and Good Life Bike Shop.
What events have you had the bikes out at? I understand you were at Sled Island?
Yeah we bicycle-powered some of the sound and lights for a Sled Island show last year that took place at The Area. We had all four of our bike generators running full speed to power the sound system there. We did an event with the city of Calgary the family new year’s celebrations where we had 5000 people in the municipal building and families got to pedal and light up an eight-foot-high LED wall of lights that went along with the music and how hard they were pedalling. One of the other events that we did that was a lot of fun for the Mount Royal University students’ association was powering the lights for their band performance. So we had the audience members both able to generate the electricity that powered the lights and the band and the sound techs and lighting allowed the pedallers to adjust the lights. So they were the light techs as well as generating the electricity.
Any upcoming events where you’ll have the bikes out?
Well we’re really excited about Cyclepalooza that starts on the 28th. So that’s the city’s biggest bike celebration so we’re really looking forward to that it’s definitely going to be the biggest year of events. We’ll have dozens and dozens of different Cyclepalooza events so Open Streets Calgary will be supporting that as much as possible. The commuter challenge which is in full swing right now is a really exciting way that connects bike commuters and public transit users and carpoolers. So those are a couple of the events that are going on. June is bike month and Open Streets is a big supporter of the city of Calgary’s work on bike month.
There’s certainly been growth in the interest in cycling.
Well you know there’s groups like Elbow Valley Cycle Club that have been around for a long time and then some of the newer organizations demonstrate how many different kinds of cyclists there are in the city and how many people are aware of the Centre City Plan and the goals of municipal government here to make a more livable city.
Are you a cyclist?
Yup.
Commuter?
I’ve been a year-round daily commuter my whole life. There’s lots of Calgarians that ride rain or shine and this growth in advocacy for whether it’s bike paths or bike lanes or general safety and more sustainable transportation is all really exciting in Calgary right now.
