Cycle for a meal

Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers hotel in Denmark defines himself as the greenest hotel in the world. The hotel suggests a special deal for its guests: free meal in exchange for electricity.

Starting from last month, hotel guests can use special bicycles not only for workouts, but also to produce electricity. These bicycles are equipped with iPhones, which can be used to monitor the amount of produced electricity. Each guest that produces at least 10 watt/hour is in favor for a free meal. Also, starting in June, guests will be able to race against the hotel's solar panel system to see which can produce the most electricity. Produced electricity helps the hotel to decrease the use of "polluted electricity".

It appears not to be as difficult as you might think. Hotel staff calculated that one guest pedaling for 60min at 30 km per hour can produce 100 watt/hour. Therefore actually only 6min of cycling will give you the right for a free lunch. If 30 km per hour is too fast for you, than you'll need about 15min. After creating the electricity and burning calories, hotel guests can receive a free meal that costs 240 Danish crowns (about 40 US$) in one of hotel's restaurants or lobby coffee shop.

"Electric bicycles offer our guests to stay fit and help the hotel at the same time", says hotel chief. "I wonder how many guests take part in our project and how much electricity will be produced".

This program will be applied in Copenhagen hotel for a year and it's open for hotel guests only. If the project succeeds, "electric bicycle meal" will be applied in other Crowne Plaza hotels.

Note: this isn't the first time stationary bikes being used to generate electricity, but it's certainly one of the unique hotel accommodations we've ever seen. It should catch on, too, since Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world - with about 35% of its residents commuting on two wheels each day.