Bicycle generator

 A Marshall University student took a simple idea and turned it into a renewable energy source by building a human-powered bicycle generator.

  Lauren Kemp, junior medical technology major from Pittsburgh, Pa., came up with the idea when the Student Environmental Action Coalition was faced with the task of creating an interactive project for the Sustainability Department.

  "The Sustainability Department was looking for an interactive project to take to the Kanawha Valley Sustainability Fair," said Margie Phillips, sustainability manager.

   Phillips said the fair is at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Charleston on May 22.

   "Lauren approached me with the idea several months ago and I helped her find some resources in the Physical Plant," Phillips said. "Once we got the project going she decided she wanted to try to get it done for Earth Day."

     Earth Day activities will be held on campus  this Thursday.

   "We were looking at things we could do as a group and what the most attainable renewable energy could be that we could bring to campus," Kemp said.  "It seemed like a great project because it is interactive and in theory, the way it works is pretty simple."

   Kemp said she did a lot of research to turn the idea into reality.

   "To find out how to do it I really just watched a lot of videos about it on YouTube," Kemp said.

"I found a lot of Web sites with information to help because it is a pretty well-known topic."

   Kemp said the design for the bike came from her research.

   "The set up was pretty standard throughout all of the pictures and video," she said. "It was always the same kind of parts used."

   Kemp said the goal for the bicycle generator is to generate enough electricity to power the speaker system outside the Memorial Student Center throughout Earth Day activities.

   "I hope that it will generate enough electricity to power the P.A. system, but if it generates any electricity, that will be good enough," Kemp said.

   She said if the generator cannot make enough energy to power the speaker system, they have back up ideas to use equipment that requires less energy.

   "We might be able to set up a blender and use the bike to make smoothies or run a computer monitor off of it," she said. "We just want to show that something can be done with it."

   Kemp said she wants the students to see the bike and feel like they own it.

   "I hope they feel that renewable energy isn't some far-off, super expensive, illogical thing that can never happen," she said.

   Kemp said the process has been time consuming, but she had a lot of help from outside resources.

   "It took a lot to get people mobilized," Kemp said. "It was a lot of ‘tell me what you need, so I can help you help me.'"

   She has received help from almost every department in the Physical Plant. Professor Jonathan Cox from the art department was involved as well as five student volunteers from the coalition.

   Kemp had most of the parts for the generator donated.

   She said the battery and inverter were donated by Interstate Battery of Huntington and the Physical Plant donated the supplies for the platform.  Marty Laubach, professor of sociology and the faculty advisor for the student group, donated the bike.

   The Student Environmental Action Coalition received a $500 grant from the Student Government Association.

   Kemp said the group used some of this money on the bicycle generator and the rest is yet to be spent.

   "We didn't even spend $100 on this project," Kemp said.

   Kemp has always lived in an environment where conservation was important.

   "I spent a lot of time with older people that lived by the idea that they weren't going to waste even a sheet of napkin," she said.

   Living at Marshall really sparked her involvement in sustainability.

   "Freshman year is when I said to myself, ‘this is what you're supposed to be doing,'" she said. "I could see the need for something and I had the chance to make it happen."

   Working with the coalition and Sustainability Department, Kemp was involved in the start up of the campus-wide recycling program and the Green Fee.

   "The whole idea of sustainability just makes sense to me," she said. "If you want something big to happen, you have to put a whole lot of effort into it."

   Kemp said she faced adversity throughout the generator project.

 "It's because I want to," she said. "Sometimes things get stuck in your head and you can't get them out until it actually happens.

   "People are still skeptical and it does motivate me. The crazy idea we had before was the Green Fee and it was supported overwhelmingly."

   Kemp said her success on projects thus far is from the increasing interest in sustainability and going green as a global issue.

   "I really believe that saving the earth is the next biggest trend," she said. "We have gotten so far in technology and how we live our lives, a lot of people are starting to feel overwhelmed and want to go back to basics."

   Kemp said she thinks the idea is generational and that every group of students in the future is going to be interested in these issues.