Education for Sustainable Development

Cork Cycling Festival ends with a novel cinematic experience, in the form of a movie drive-in for cyclists – who also supply the electricity for the cinema’s projector, sound system and movie player via a pedal-driven dynamo. The bike-powered cinema, devised and built by Gavin Harte – a carbon coach and sustainable development consultant from Schull, Co Cork – requires six pedallers on stationary bikes on stands to keep a comfortable pace. Members of the audience can take turns to contribute.

“I made it in a moment of madness, really. I work in education and climate change, and I was struck by how we take energy for granted. I built it as an interactive way to demonstrate how much energy we use in ordinary routine activities,” says Harte.

The six-person pedal engine, when pumping at a steady pace, creates 300 watts of power, the same as that required to power three 100-watt incandescent lightbulbs. Boiling an electric kettle would require three kilowatts of energy, and would take 30 people pedalling. An electric shower would require 100 cyclists. Lance Armstrong on a sprint would create 500 watts of electricity.

“That’s surprising to people. We have become so divorced from the energy we use. The average person requires 50 people pedalling at any given time to power our daily lifestyle.”

Projected images hit a two-by-one-metre screen. The sound system and video player have been made as lean and efficient as possible. The device has a value of €3,500.

In creating an environment in which people power their own entertainment, Harte says he taps into an audience experience that is essentially democratic. If the show isn’t good enough, the people powering the projector can simply get off and walk away. “It’s ultimate audience democracy. Be it a band, bingo or a comedy, whatever the entertainment the audience produces the power, which gives the people the power.”