Inmates of Arizona jail to help the environment while burning some calories

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona has devised a great way for the inmates of his jail to stay fit while generating electricity. Yup, that’s right! He arranged for a stationary bike equipped with a mechanism to generate electricity to be set up in the jail’s viewing centre. The TV is connected to this bike, if an inmate wants to watch TV, he has to pedal his way to entertainment. This bike, which the sheriff calls, “Pedal Vision”, can generate 12V of current, which is enough to power a 19-inch TV set. If all of US’s 2.5 million prisoners were to follow this practice, it could generate more than 363,641 kWh of electricity while saving millions of dollars. Currently, this facility is only available for the female inmates at Arpaio’s jail.

Considering the importance of exercise for the inmates and the scarcity of energy, this is a great way to contribute to solving both the problems.
[treehugger]