This gives new meaning to Pedal Revolution : )
Pedal Power: Look Ma No Wires:
An innovative, pedal powered, wireless network provides Internet access to off-grid villages in Laos.
Jhai PC is a project of non-government organisation (NGO), Jhai Foundation.
“The equipment will be powered by electricity stored in a car battery charged by ‘foot cranks’,” Lee Thorn, Jhai Foundation chair, explains. These “are essentially bicycle wheels and pedals hooked to a small generator. The generator is connected to a car battery and the car battery is connected to the computer.”
“Connection with each computer to the others will be by radio local area network (LAN),” he says. “Each village will connect to one repeater station powered by a solar means on the ridge near the river valley. That station will then send the radio signal to the microwave tower nearby and eventually to a server in Vientiane that will connect the villages to the Internet.