Fossil Ridge High School students are launching into the future with their Pedal Power project. With help from CSU, students from physics, clean energy and manufacturing, and geometry classes created a bike that students can pedal to charge their laptop.

The bike produces energy by pedaling. This turns a wheel with a band around it connected to a generator. The generator produces energy that goes into a deep cycle 12-volt battery. The energy is then taken out of the battery into an inverter that converts the current into a useable current.

The students have been working on these bikes since November. Some students from the physics class had the chance to help construct the bikes, including junior Nathan Hay. “I was so glad I got the chance to work with this project and just spend my extra time outside of class doing physics because I love physics a lot.”

The project was part of the GK-12 program at CSU. According to their website, the program is “designed to train a new generation of scientists in biomedical science and engineering who are inter- and multi-disciplinary in their training.” The project is meant to teach students to work together and spark interest in science.

There were multiple teams in the clean energy and manufacturing class with different designs. Representatives from the physics and clean energy class presented one of the bikes at CSU Engineering Day. Their project and poster was judged by CSU students. The physics portion of the project received second runner up in its category.

The students hope that the bike will be implemented into the school. “[The bike is] very successful,” junior Peter Flickenger said, “It works, so we’re able to charge a battery that charges a laptop and get some nice results.”