How many cyclists does it take to power a hairdryer? The answer's 18, as one family discovered in a unique TV experiment



Until recently, much of Shelley Collins's day was spent carrying out a familiar and somewhat tedious routine: traipsing around her three-storey town house after her husband and two children, turning off light switches, unplugging games consoles and turning the central heating down.

'It was a long-standing joke in our family that if I went out, I'd come home to find the house looking like the Blackpool Illuminations, with every single light switched on for no reason other than it hadn't been switched off,' says Shelley, a primary school teacher, who lives in Cheltenham with her husband Andy, an IT consultant, and children Isobel, 15, and Daniel, 12.

'And it wasn't just the lights. Both my husband and children left their laptops on permanently, and every night the only person who would think to turn off the microwave and cooker at the switch - both have energy-draining LCD displays - was me.

Family challenge: The Collins with some of the gadgets powered by cyclists

'My husband loved the house warm, too, and would leave the heating turned up to the max even when we were out. Sometimes it would feel more like a sauna than an ordinary home.

'It's not that I'm obsessive about the environment, but I don't see the point in wasting energy given what we're all told about global warming.



'Our energy costs have also risen substantially recently, from about £60 a month for electricity to £80, and a part of my attitude was about keeping costs down, too. The battle I've faced is how to get that message across to my husband and children.'



Whatever Shelley said to her family, it was not, admits Andy, a success. He says: 'Shelley would go on at the children and me to turn things off, but I would just keep forgetting. My worst offence in her eyes was to leave the fridge door open, something I did fairly often.

'My excuse was always that I'm not naturally environmentally conscious. For instance, I'd always drive to the local shops even though they're only five minutes' walk away.



'I know the reasons I should walk, but it's quicker and easier to just jump in the car.'



Today, Shelley's family's energy wastage is dramatically reduced. The house is full of energy-saving lightbulbs and every night, all appliances are turned off at their switch.

The reason for this turnaround? Their participation in a unique experiment in which they spent 24 hours in a house powered not by the national grid, but by a so-called 'Human Power Station' - 80 cyclists pedalling bikes adapted in order to generate electricity.



Experiment: (from left) Presenters Dallas Campbell, Liz Bonnin and Jem Stansfield in front of the Human Power Station, filmed for BBC1



The aim of the experiment was to illustrate in terms we can all understand - pedal power - just how much energy we use and to highlight the effort it takes to create the power we need, as opposed to simply flicking a switch.

The experiment, without doubt, provides food for thought.

The cyclists were not normal people, or even those used to participating in the hell that is a gym-based cycling 'spinning class', but instead were members of some of Britain's most elite cycling clubs. You might think they would find the task easy.



Yet simply powering a hairdryer relied on the efforts of 18 cyclists. It took nine cyclists to power the toaster. And boiling the kettle, something most of us do a number of times a day, requires the combined effort of 30 cyclists pedalling as fast as possible.

The list goes on: three cyclists for the television, 11 cyclists for the vacuum cleaner, 15 cyclists for the iron, 14 for the microwave, 17 for the washing machine, 24 for the oven and an astonishing 70 cyclists pedalling at full-pelt just to power the electric shower.

At one stage, when the family were simply doing what they would ordinarily do on a Sunday afternoon - the children were playing on the Wii, Andy was vacuuming, Shelley was cooking a roast, and yes, a few extra lights had been left on, the house was plunged into darkness as all 80 cyclists, despite pedalling full-tilt, were unable to keep up with the energy demands.

Energy experts Colin Tonks and Tim Siddall, the masterminds behind the experiment - featured on BBC1 tonight - and co-owners of Electric Pedals, a company that designs and builds human-powered lighting and music installations, say that the average person cycling on one of their bikes is able to produce only enough energy to power a single lightbulb or a small hi-fi system.



'We're always asked how much power it's possible to get from each bike - created using a simple dynamo attached to the rear wheel - and that depends on the rider,' says Colin.

New values: The Collins family said they changed their ways after the challenge



'An average human can maintain 40 to 50 watts for an hour, whereas someone like record-breaking Tour de France cyclist Lance Armstrong could maintain 400 watts for a couple of hours, which could provide adequate power for an electric drill or a 42-inch plasma screen with games console.'

When the Collins family moved into the specially designed house, they had no idea what the experiment would be about.



They were told simply to act as normally as possible, and behave as if they were in their own home.

'We really had no idea our electricity use was being monitored at all, let alone generated by cyclists, so we weren't particularly careful,' says Andy.

'The children were straight on to the games consoles provided and watching television.



'Shelley loaded up the washing machine, did some ironing, cooked a roast dinner and baked a cake. And I made some coffee in the coffee machine, and forgot to turn the warming plate off for the rest of the day.'

The family were completely unaware that from the moment they flicked on the first light switch, the 80 cyclists based in a nearby warehouse began pedalling.

'The cyclists were grouped into ten teams of eight cyclists, to enable rests,' explains Colin.

'Our peak output was about 12 kilowatts per hour, enough to run four kettles simultaneously and worth approximately £2.

'Had the family been aware of what we were doing, they would have been able to arrange their electrical consumption so that they didn't use so much (or so much of our cyclists' energy). But as what happened showed, we use electricity so thoughtlessly.



Pedal power: 80 cyclists took part in the event to power household appliances



'The first problem was that a number of the cyclists' efforts were used up in maintaining what we call base power.

'When estimating how many cyclists we'd need, we'd factored in such things as lights being left on, but we hadn't counted on things like the warming plate on the coffee machine being left on all day. Supplying that limited who was available to provide power for other items the family needed throughout the day, such as the oven and the washing machine.

'But the real problem came in the afternoon, when the family started cooking, playing computer games and doing the vacuuming - all at once. To attempt to keep up, we were in emergency mode, with nine groups pedalling at full-throttle, while one group rested for just a minute.

'Some of the riders were in absolutely agony, their legs were cramping, they were screaming in pain and sweating profusely.

'Still, the family used more energy than we could provide - the oven was on for nearly three hours - and eventually the power supply cut out.

'By the end of the day, the cyclists were completely exhausted, and these are all extremely fit people used to cycling very long distances.'

With the experiment complete, the family were taken to meet the cyclists who had powered their day.



Shelley says: 'I took one look at this group of people sitting on bikes and felt incredibly guilty. They were all bright red with exertion, covered in sweat and a few were almost collapsed on the seats.



Energy: Their peak output was 12 kilowatts per hour, enough to run four kettles



'They were all complaining about how much electricity we'd used, when really we hadn't done anything different to what we would normally.

'It's been so hard for me to get the message about energy wastage through to the children, but the sight of all those poor people seemed to do it immediately.

'The children went red and apologised profusely, as did Andy, especially when he realised his error in leaving the coffee machine on all day. I'd say we were all completely stunned.

'Of course pedal power is not equivalent to generating electricity in power stations, but it provides a very clear reference point in terms of our own capabilities. It hit home immediately how casual we'd all been about electricity, when in fact so much effort was required to generate it.'

Shelley says the experiment has had a profound impact on her family, and a light left on is not a problem she encounters any more.



'All of us know the little changes that make a difference, things like turning lights off, not leaving items on standby, buying energy-saving bulbs, and keeping the central heating down low,' says Shelley.

'The question is whether or not you bother to do them. We've even bought a clear kettle so that you can see how much water is in it and only fill it to the level you need.

'In my family, I used to be the only person who tried. Now, everyone makes a lot of effort. It's not easy to knowingly walk away from a light you haven't turned off when in the back of your mind there's an image of 80 cyclists pedalling furiously.

'The experiment has changed our perspectives on energy, and where it comes from, for ever.'

• Bang Goes The Theory: Human Power Station is on BBC One at 8pm tonight.

