How many tourists in Times Square does it take to light up the “2009” sign on New Year’s Eve?

137,228.

That’s how many people it took to generate enough electricity to light up the numerical display that will blaze after the clock strikes midnight and the ball drops over Times Square in Manhattan on Wednesday night.

Beginning Dec. 2, holiday visitors stopping by the Charmin public restrooms on Broadway and 45th Street could ride the escalator two flights up and hop on one of six stationary bicycles that looked like snowmobiles and were rigged to electric generators. The generators charged a set of four large batteries that will light the sign and help green the annual event.

Duracell, the battery manufacturing company that set up the “power lodge,” said the electricity was generated using rotary technology — pedal power and spinning wheels, similar to systems used on wind farms.

By Dec. 27, the original goal of 230 pedaled hours had been surpassed by more than 20 percent. On Sunday, the batteries were transported to a new location for safekeeping until Wednesday night.

Some visitors to the power lodge Monday, like Megan Coakley, 13, were disappointed they were too late to help fuel Wednesday’s festivities. “It would’ve been awesome to try the bikes,” said Miss Coakley, who traveled from Tinton Falls, N.J., with her twin sister and parents, Beth and John, to visit New York for the day.

Although the bikes are no longer in use and now available for viewing only, visitors to Duracell’s hub can still recharge gadgets at power terminals, hang out in front of an artificial fireplace or play one of several Nintendo Wiis stationed in the lodge. Ms. Coakley and her family declined to linger, saying they had game consoles at home.

Jeremy French, 21, a field manager for Gigunda, the marketing team staffing Duracell’s lodge, said that the facilities were even popular with local Manhattanites. “A group of elderly women came in several times to ride the bike,” said Mr. French. “They brought water bottles and would go at it for 20 minutes or so a day.”

The “2009” sign is made up of 608 halogen bulbs that will require 7.25 kilowatt-hours of electricity to light up after the famous ball drop. By comparison, in 2006, the average residence in the United States consumed 920 kilowatt-hours per month.

The human-generated electricity will deliver enough juice to keep the bulbs blazing during the televised portion of the evening’s broadcast, or about 15 minutes. Afterward, the sign will revert to the utility grid for power for the remainder of the night.

The numerical display isn’t the only New Year’s Eve sign in Times Square getting a green makeover: This year’s dropping ball, made of crystal triangles and illuminated by 32,256 LED bulbs, is 20 percent more energy-efficient than last year’s glowing sphere.

Human-powered innovation has been popular throughout 2008: Dance clubs in London and the Netherlands installed piezoelectric flooring to generate power from the motion of dancing revelers, and the East Japan Railway Company recently announced plans to update the platforms of its Tokyo Station with similar materials to harvest kinetic energy generated by crowds to power ticket gates.