Pedal Power Week on Permie.net so far has been about traveling by bike. But here are some fun ideas for using pedal power energy for other uses as well. Enjoy!

Pedal your way to clean laundry like some of these tinkerers and makers. Homeless Dave uses an old-fashioned manual clothes washer, but skips the wringing in favor of his bicycle-powered laundry spinner, and offers lots of info on how to make your own. Avoiding the old-fashioned wringer is a good idea…they are exceptionally tedious to use.(via Sustainablog. The Cyclean is a prototype and has been around for a while. Check the forums for some discussions about design. Finally, the Bicilavadora: A Pedal-powered Washing Machine is a project by MIT students to develop a low cost, pedal-powered washing machine that is designed around readily available parts in the developing world. Here’s a video of it being put to a test in Peru:

Of course, you can also generate electricity by pedaling. David Butcher’s Pedal Powered Generator site has lots of information about doing this.

There’s a great round-up of pedal powered contraptions and projects at the Alternative Energy News: Pedal Power site. Some of my favorites are the projects to use bicycles to power water filtration. Check out the Aquaduct Mobile Filtration Vehicle:

Finally, how about pedal-powered fun…as in carnival rides! Cyclecide Heavy Pedal Bike Rodeo, “a club of alter-bike mechanics, mariachi-punk musicians and psychotic clowns who love bikes, beer and building stuff. Together we form a traveling pedal-powered carnival that is fun for people of all ages.”

The Heavy Pedal Cyclecide Bike Rodeo has been independently operated and touring for over ten years now. We travel in a converted city bus full of clowns and their alter-cycles and pull a trailer loaded with pedal-powered rides. We’ve toured across the United States and down into Mexico and have been featured performers at festivals such as Coachella, Stage Coach, Bumbershoot, Tour De Fat, Burning Man and Maker Faire, to name a few.

Enjoy this video about Cyclecide from MAKE TV:

I love these folks!