So a while ago I was talking to my brother and we came up with a method to make a system to generate energy for everyone. The method is quite a simple one. You get a bicycle, fix it in place and hook it up so that the back drive wheel is in contact with a larger wheel and then pay people to cycle on it. The energy comes from the person riding, to the back wheel which begins to spin the larger wheel which is wired up to a kinetic energy converter device converting the rotational energy of the wheel into electricity, which is then fed into the national grid.
By allowing people to turn up at a power station like this, only with tens maybe hundreds of bicycles, and start generating clean renewable energy for the nation. They then fill in a form to have the money they earn to be paid into their account, maybe through a cheque system, and then they get paid a fair minimum wage per hour plus, an additional wage for the energy they generate. This would solve several issues that exist in the modern age. For starters it could help the unemployed by logging their hours on such machines onto their job seekers records so that they can say they have done some work and can be rewarded for doing so. It also helps the environment by being a low carbon, you still have to feed people for this to work remember, renewable clean energy source for the nation. It also tackles obesity by allowing those who are obese to get paid for improving their health and all the other benefits being healthy brings. This would ease the NHS by reducing the amount of money spent on treating obesity patients and reducing strain on service within hospitals by, increasing the amount of available beds etc.
A system like this, if done properly, would allow the population of a country to improve several aspects of their lives. You could entertain yourself as well by having screens display films like the drive in cinemas of old or listen to music or read a book all whilst being paid for it. A certain degree of scrutiny has to be placed though as It would be easy to turn up and simply sit and not pedal and still get paid.
Because this method of energy generation is also very easy to achieve and fairly low maintenance it could be used in the developing world to help the poor by allowing them to generate extra income. Places where wages are poor, such as farms in the undeveloped world where the income is considerably below the poverty line, could benefit massively from this and help reduce their poverty and increase their income by paying per unit of energy generated. A rotary system could also be developed whereby everyone pedals for the sake of the community particularly in rural areas. I must stress though that this will only work if the people pedaling are volunteers and not doing it for community service, prison work etc as a I believe that this system would be easily exploitable under those circumstances.
P.S. This is my first article for Films For Action or any public artice as well so I don't expect it to be perfect.