Copenhagen hotel launches pioneering pedal power schemes

Never mind singing for your supper, a hotel in Copenhagen is encouraging guests to use pedal power to generate electricity in exchange for free meals.

The Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers is claiming a world first through its new guest-powered electricity initiative. By wiring its exercise bikes to the grid, the hotel is looking to cut its carbon emissions – albeit by a modest amount – while guests exercise.

Guests at the 366-room hotel will also be able to get free meals by producing 10 watt hours of electricity or more for a meal voucher worth DKr200 (£23). The hotel's calculations suggest one guest cycling at 30kmph for an hour will produce about 100 watt hours of electricity.

The 100 watt hours of energy is only enough to light a single 100W bulb for one hour, but the hotel says it wants the target to be "achievable" in order to encourage as many people as possible to take part in the scheme.

Each guest will be able to monitor how much electricity they produce via iPhones mounted on the handlebars.

The electricity-generating bikes will be installed at the hotel next Monday and will initially run for a year. However, the hotel chain said that if the bikes prove popular, the scheme will be rolled out across the UK.

Allan Agerholm, the hotel's general manager, said: "The electric bikes offer our guests the chance to get fit and help power the hotel at the same time using environmentally responsible technology."

Avid fitness fans can also, from June, race against the hotel's solar panel system in a bid to produce the most electricity.

The Copenhagen hotel opened in February and has been touted as one of the greenest getaways in the world. Environmentally responsible technology is used throughout the hotel to lower energy consumption, while power is provided by Northern Europe's largest solar panel park and Denmark's first groundwater-based cooling and heating system.

Speaking at the opening, Danish deputy prime minister said: "I believe that green thinking is not just good for the environment but is also good for the bottom line. I have no doubt that businesses that take an environmentally responsible approach have the edge over their competitors as leisure and business guests alike are increasingly choosing hotels based on their environmental credentials."

Electricity-generating exercise bikes may seem like a nice green marketing gimmick, but they are part of a wider energy harvesting trend that could one day deliver deep cuts in carbon emissions.

For example, this week saw the launch of a pilot project in the French city of Toulouse that will see pedestrians generate electricity for street lighting by walking on specially designed pavements.

Designers said the section of eight custom-made modules placed in the city centre for a two-week trial could produce between 50 and 60 watts of electricity to power a nearby street lamp.

The modules are embedded with microsensors which produce energy when people move over them and were originally designed by Dutch company Sustainable Dance Club for use in nightclubs. The pilot scheme represents the first time the technology has been used in the street to generate electricity.

The pilot mirrors a similar trial in Tokyo where a subway station has been fitted with a piezoelectric system capable of generating power from commuters' footfalls.