Treadmill Paradise

This fresh off the wire:
"At one farm in Northern Ireland, cows are giving up green grass in favor of green power. In order to decrease his reliance on fossil fuels for electricity, farmer William Taylor created the Livestock Power Mill, a treadmill that generates power as cows walk on it. It may seem like a kooky idea, but Taylor could really be onto something: According to his calculations, if the world’s 1.3 billion cattle used treadmills for eight hours a day, they could produce six percent of the world’s power."

The mind boggles. Yet again.

For example, there are an estimated 119 million horses in the world. What if they used treadmills for eight hours a day? That would be 0.5 percent of the world's power give or take. And there are an estimated 200 million cats. That would be roughly 0.04 percent. An estimated 2.5 billion dogs would be 0.1 percent. So, starting with Taylor's calculations, domesticated animals could contribute to seven percent of the world's power.

Then, of course, there are human beings. There are an estimated 6.8 billion people in the world. Human beings alone would be more than three percent of the world's power.

People 6.8 billion
Dogs - 2.5 billion
Cows - 1.3 billion
Cats - 200 million
Horses - 119 million

Now, admittedly, these calculations are rough, but - roughly - if we put all the world's people, all the world's cats and dogs, all the world's cows and horses on treadmills we would cut our energy consumption by 10%! Surely that would save us a Gulf of Mexico oil spill or two.

And, of course, that's not all.

What aren't the people of the world doing if they're on treadmills eight hours a day? Well, for one thing, they're not driving, are they? Driving accounts for roughly 30% of the world's energy use. Now, it's true that if 8 hours a day are taken up on the treadmill, 8 hours a day on sleeping and let's say 3 hours a day eating, that still leaves 5 hours a day, but surely, if present day trends are any indication, most if not all of that 5 hours a day would be spent on some sort of sitting and watching exercise, which means that the 10% drop in energy use would be supplemented by an even bigger 28 or 29% thanks to the precipitous drop in driving. In fact, to conserve mental energy, let's just round that out to 30% for a grand total of 40%. I can just see the Gulf of Mexico turning into its former under-polluted self.

And what else would a world of humans on 8 hour a day treadmills entail?

Give up? Well, less shopping. In fact, a lot less shopping. People, after their 8 hours are up, will be lucky to make it home without collapsing in one or another gutter. The LAST thing they'll be thinking about is buying anything that isn't food or water. So all that energy that is used up digging up raw materials for consumer goods, all that energy used to transport those raw materials, all that energy used to transform those raw materials into products, all that energy used to transport those products to the showroom floors and shelves - it will no longer be necessary.

And what else would a world of humans on 8 hour a day treadmills entail?

Well, fewer babies. In fact, a lot fewer babies. At the risk of repeating myself, after their 8 hours a day are up, the LAST thing - well, maybe the next to LAST thing - they'll be thinking about is making another baby. The phrase "I'm too tired" will become a cliche. And what will that mean? A precipitous drop not only in driving but in the number of people even dreaming of driving. Or consuming any form of energy, for that matter.

In fact...

Remember that 10% of the world's power that all the world's humans, cats and dogs, cows and horses can produce just by using a treadmill for 8 hours each day? Well, that may actually be all the power that today's human beings - and cats and dogs, and cows and horses, of course - may need.

In other words, we will have created for ourselves a treadmill paradise. No more peak oil problems; most of the rest of our non-renewable resources can be left in the ground. No more financial system problems; who's going to need to go into debt once their treadmills are bought and paid for? No more global warming problems; how many hydrocarbons are being pumped into the air by walking on a treadmill or by walking home to collapse in bed? Not only will we have ourselves a treadmill paradise; we will have ourselves a sustainable treadmill paradise.

And all because of farmer William Taylor of Northern Ireland.