The Copenhagen Wheel is a device that enables users to harvest and store the energy expended while cycling to convert a regular bicycle into a a hybrid electric bike and to simultaneously collect data about the rider’s habits (effort expended, calories burned etc), air and noise pollution, congestion and road conditions.
Users own all the data they collect and they can access this data through smart phones (e.g. iPhone) for future use. Users might want to share their data with friends and social networks to improve bike routes or meet up on the fly. They can also share their data anonymously with their city to create a finely grained database of environmental conditions that can be used to help improve traffic flow, air quality and the like.
Prototypes developed by MIT’s SENSEable City Lab for the Kobenhavns Kommune were launched at the COP15 United Nations Climate Conference. Technical partners were Ducati Energia and Progical Solutions LLC. The project was funded by the Danish Ministry for the Environment.