Posted on 11/30/2009 9:59:59 PM PST by Libloather
Pedal-powered Christmas tree lights Copenhagen
By Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com
Tuesday, December 01, 2009 01:00 PM
When you're the host city for international climate change negotiations, using energy-efficient LED lights on the Christmas tree apparently isn't enough.
The traditional Christmas tree in Copenhagen's City Hall Square will be powered by people, rather than a distant power plant. The square has been equipped with 15 bicycles which, when pedaled, light up the 700 LED bulbs on the tree.
The 17-meter-high tree went up last week during an opening ceremony in which Saint Nicholas climbed a fire truck ladder to the top of the tree and lit fireworks.
Even during the ceremony, the lights were being powered by the bicycles, according to a representative from the city of Copenhagen. Children, a mayor, and international VIPs joined in the pedaling during the opening ceremony, he added.
The carbon-light approach to lighting the traditional Christmas tree is one of the attractions being organized for COP15, the latest round of international climate change talks, which start next week. The purpose of these meetings is to establish treaties to limit the amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.
Reuters has a list of the commitments under discussion during the negotiation, which include a goal of limiting global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels, a "threshold that many scientists see as a threshold for dangerous climate change".
Expectations that there would be a major breakthrough in Copenhagen have been low in part because the U.S. Congress has not been able to pass an energy and climate bill that would limit greenhouse gas emissions. But the past two weeks have seen a number of political twists, summarized at the New York Times.
All the political jockeying, though, could have a real impact on green technology and innovation. For the most part, green-tech entrepreneurs and investors are not betting on having a hefty price attached to carbon in the immediate future. Rather any climate regulations serve mainly as a signal that the economic system will find a way to create a financial incentive for technologies that reduce emissions.
Another important topic for discussion in Copenhagen is how green technologies will be transferred to poor countries, writes Earth2Tech.
Looks like she just finished a triathlon - no?
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gestures as she addresses a press conference at the APEC Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Singapore. The United States called Wednesday for a compromise at next month's global climate talks in Copenhagen and urged Asian countries including China to do their part in forging a deal.
Anyone falling for this propaganda deserves the slavery they invite.
What BS they wish to promote.
So, they’re advocating the creation of a slave class who will do the pedaling and provide the superior class with electricity?
no no they’re doing it all wrong. they need solar panels and eco-friendly storage batteries. people breathe out carbon dioxide ya know?
Hey Reuters - how about explaining briefly what these "political twists" were that NYT summarized.
Good Lord, what BS. From a simple engineering systems perspective, this makes no sense whatsoever. It takes lots of processed carbohydrate fuels to power the human body. And the human body is very inefficient at converting that fuel to work (think Carnot efficiency when the body is operating at ~100 deg F and the heat sink is at 80 F). Overall, you are getting much much lower conversion efficiencies of fuel to electrical power than you get from a conventional fossil fuel fired power plant. But engineering economics makes little sense to libs.
This idea is no doubt brought to us by the corrupt and crooked “scientists” who have been scamming governments to pay for GW “research” all these years.
Next stop for western "civilization," must be mao-suited workers pulling rickshaws through the streets.
What a joke.
You wouldn’t expect them to figure out something as complex as yoking oxen to the contraption to generate electricity, would you?
This new world the libs are creating bears a strong resemblance to the set of Planet of the Apes.
Charleton Heston would have to pedal on a stationary bike to power one tiny Dostyevsky-like uncovered light bulb in his apartment in Soylent Green.
Is that the visual they are trying to send?
My thought was that the Wheel of Pain from Conan was a better scheme than this.
But oxen farts add to global warming.
Somebody needs to get a picture of this.
It will be Obama’s 2012 “Kerry in a bunnysuit” or “Dukakis in the tank” image.
Haven’t you guys been to LegoLand, either in Carlsbad, CA or Denmark? Most of the rides there have a human component. Kids have to pull, push, stomp or pedal or something to make it happen. I think the Danes probably feel that the benefits of the exercise and participation outweigh the fact that the human power source is less efficient. And if a non-flatulent human pedals, you have cleaner air, too.
As to having animals do the labor, I’m sure animal rights people would object to forcing oxen to walk around. However, hamsters on wheels, might be ok, since they do that on their own volition, and take breaks whenever they want.
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