Human power

Human power is the use of hand cranks, pedals, or treadle pumps to generate small-scale power.

Positives of human power are that it is not reliant on any feedstock or weather. Negatives are that it can be very labor-intensive, and some models have found that customers do not always find it an appealing way to generate power, especially on a communal level. After the success of its WireBridges, Village Tech Solutions tried to implement a bicycle pedal powered generator for community power generation, but ended up switching to solar when it found that there were cultural barriers to pedaling and people considered it beneath them. Nuru Energy addresses this problem by having the pedal-recharger get paid on commission for every recharge, turning it into a job.