You never really know how hard it is to do something until you actually do it, thats the lesson some of the visitors at the UNEP Global Issues booth at YOV learnt the hard way.

The challenge: to generate enough electricity to power a few everyday devices.

The tools used: an energy generating bicycle and some helpful volunteer cyclists.

For the challenge, we set up three different devices for the athletes to try out the loads.

1. Two 15 Watt energy efficient compact fluoroscent lamps (CFL)

2. One radio of about 20 Watts

3. One 100 Watt incandescent light bulb

We put the radio on at all times so the athletes can hear themselves powering up the devices, and alternated between the CFL and the incandescent setup.

How did the participants fare?

At a mere 50 Watts of load, everyone was able to power up the CFL and the radio with ease, even the kids from the primary schools. Not everyone felt the same ease though when we switched over to the incandescent setup. Some laughed; others gave out a stunned "Whoa!"; most pedalled harder to keep the bulb lit. Everyone though agreed that the incandescent bulb was far harder to power.

Which brings us to this:

"Until the sun shines out of your arse, remember..."

"Not worth it"

We also tried our hand at boiling a cup of water using the energy bicycle. After several attempts to up the temperature over a four day period, we managed to hit a near boiling record of 87 degrees celsius. Each session lasted roughly an hour or more of relentless pedalling, not worth at all for a cup of tea if you ask me.

Learning Points:

After my 5 day (out of 7) stint with UNEP, I'll never look at energy the same again. It is seriously no joke to power even a simple light bulb of 100 Watts consistently, let alone an air conditioner of a few thousand Watts. Over jokes with a fellow volunteer, we agreed on one thing- if we had to cycle to power our laptops, it'd better be the most energy efficient one!

Some Background Info:

"Volunteers from Earthlink, Hockey Player Andrew Smith & Dr Hartmut Stahl from UNEP"

As part of the Cultural & Education Programme for the Singapore Youth Olympic Games, the United Nations Environment Programme has been invited down to share with the athletes about the environment cause. Athletes are free to take part in the energy generating bicycle challenge, a green quiz and an carbon calculator activity.

Earthlink NTU has dedicated 7 volunteers in aid of UNEP at the Global Issues booth at the Youth Olympic Village. In addition, athletes are invited to put their thumbprint as a symbolic gesture to pledge to the environmental cause on one of the few environmental message banners.