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

Shin, HD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3475-5829, Al-Habaibeh, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9867-6011 and Casamayor, JL ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8497-2947, 2017. Using human-powered products for sustainability and health: benefits, challenges, and opportunities. Journal of Cleaner Production, 168, pp. 575-583. ISSN 0959-6526

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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 human-powered 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.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Cleaner Production
Creators:	Shin, H.D., Al-Habaibeh, A. and Casamayor, J.L.
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date:	1 December 2017
Volume:	168
ISSN:	0959-6526
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.081 DOI S095965261732070X Publisher Item Identifier
Divisions:	Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	20 Sep 2017 07:59
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2018 03:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/31621

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