Using human-powered products for sustainability and health: Benefits, challenges, and opportunities

Abstract

This paper presents a novel research work on the potential benefits of using, a unique and sustainable energy source-the human-power. The paper discusses the benefits and the practicality of using human-power as a domestic energy source to power electrical and electronic devices and explores the benefit of its use in a more diverse perspective for possible change in behaviour and energy savings for improved sustainability in the society. The economic and sustainability gains of using Human-Powered Products (HPPs) are investigated. Two studies have been conducted, the first is a study which involves assessing the environmental impact of a human-powered products via Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); and the second is a case study called Home User Study (HUS), where the technology is experimentally tested. The humanpowered system is used to explore the real benefits and life-cycle analysis towards assessing the sustainability of such products. The Home User Study (HUS) has been conducted to explore the in-situ use of human-powered systems using a new prototype that has been built and deployed. The study has used a monitoring device to measure the outcome of the interaction between the user and human-powered products. The results interestingly have revealed various other forms of benefits beyond renewable energy that could add extra motives for using human-powered products, such as health benefits. The paper also puts an emphasis on the opportunity of using Human-Powered Products which can be perceived as a great viable solution against counter measuring social issues such as physical inactivity and increasing sedentary behaviour. The results of the theoretical study indicate that Human-Powered Products (HPP) do not offer significant financial savings. The results of the HUS indicate that using human-powered products for health prospective outweigh the benefit gained from the prospective of energy savings and renewable energy. Based on the findings of this study, the paper suggests an approach that shows how the implementation of Human-powered systems could provide the opportunity to 2 sustainable energy generation and energy savings, but in all cases they can be retained through a motivational drive in improving the health benefit via encouraging physical activities.

Evaluation of Children’s Screen Viewing Time and Parental Role in Household Context

“…His study concluded that the financial gain of using human power as an alternative power source was inadequate and further emphasized that the potentiality of such intervention would be more lucrative when used as means to increase PA and reduce sedentary behavior in the home environment. 24 Some studies have shown that even little time spent in light to moderate PA may increase health benefits. 22,[25][26][27] However, there are limitations in the existing literature whereby very few studies have examined the role of parents in modeling habitual PAs or discouraging these screen-related behaviors.…”

From Gym to Grid: Evaluating the Impact of COVID-19 on Saudi Gym-Goers’ Willingness to Utilize Human Kinetic Energy for Sustainable Energy Generation

“…By studying these attitudes and determining what impacts them, scholars and policymakers will be better equipped to develop effective strategies for promoting sustainable solutions. Although the necessary technology is yet to be perfected, the implementation of HKE generation systems can become a practical demonstration of renewable energy generation for the general public [46]. In addition to our research, previous studies indicated that wearable and stationary HKE technologies tend to stimulate discussion about sustainability while making observers more enthusiastic about renewable energy use [3,47].…”

A Bibliometric Analysis of Sustainable Product Design Methods from 1999 to 2022: Trends, Progress, and Disparities between China and the Rest of the World

“…However, social sustainability is primarily measured by employee-related indicators such as working conditions, health, safety, training, and education [120], and applications measuring social sustainability performance in the context of various products and industrial manufacturing lack consistency [121]. For example, Kim selected the easily measurable indicator of toxic substances to represent worker health status in measuring the social sustainability of coffee machines [104], and Shin selected sedentary behavior and physical activity to analyze human-powered products [105]. Simultaneously, uncertainty of what data to utilize for social sustainability assessment and data quality [122] adds to the complexity of sustainable product design, evaluation, and decision-making.…”