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Energy Playground


Your Effort, Your Energy!

Quick Facts

  • The energy swings allow riders to glide over 20’ and to a height of 9’ to output 12 Volt electricity to the Energy Well or other devices.

  • Energy Playground riders have produced over 10,000 zero impact grid neutral snowcones in only one year!

  • The Energy Well is a lithium ion battery system capable of collecting energy from input devices and delivering energy back to the grid or into plugged in devices.

About The Program

A spin off of the Energy FACTory, The Energy Playground offers you the chance to relive your childhood memories while powering concerts, snow cone machines, movies and other energy- thirsty equipment. The Energy Playground can be created for an individual, a classroom or even a music festival. All the equipment is designed to be user-friendly so you don’t need a Ph.D. to ride any of the devices, just some endurance and desire to create your own energy. The Energy Playground is a first step in getting people to embrace alternative energy and see the impact, big or small, that they can make as one person or a group.

Bikes The Tour de Energy bikes help power everything from the Sweatshop Mixer to flat-screen TVs! As you pedal, you produce kinetic energy that is converted to electricity through alternator. At Coachella 2007, a fleet of 24 Tour de Energy bikes helped power festival goers’ cell phones.

Swings Whether you are out for a relaxing swing or you’re trying to get a better view of the main stage, you’ll be lightening the load with the Energy Swings. Energy Swings capture the motion of participants and convert it into 12-volt energy. This energy is stored in the battery well and used to refresh riders.

Merry-Go-Round Similar to the Energy Seesaw, the Energy Merry-Go-Round will provide festival goers a trip back to their youth with another fun, energy-producing experience. When the Energy Merry-Go-Round spins, energy is harnessed and transformed into the electricity needed to power multiple 12-volt appliances or collected into a battery storage well.

Hamster Wheels At seven feet tall, the Human Hamster Wheels allow festival goers to take big steps in making alternative energy. Festival goers run stay in place while the wheels spin to convert kinetic energy into electricity.

Energy Seesaw The Energy Seesaw gives a jolt to your playground memories. You can enjoy a fun pasttime while also charging your cell phone, iPod or camera.

Energy Well The Energy Well takes battery storage above and beyond the usual. The Energy Well is a 12-volt, fully monitor-able, and adaptable battery command center. As electricity flows from production devices into the Energy Well, software can be plugged in to track all aspects of production and share in real time the results of riders’ work. If you want to take your participants to the next level, you can crank up the resistance at the energy well.

Handcranks The handcranks power everything from the Sweatshop Mixer to listening stations, where you can have the opportunity to be the first to listen to newly released albums from popular artists! Past albums we’ve cranked include Pearl Jam’s “Backspacer” at Outside Lands 2009.

Energy Dance Floor The Energy Dance Floor makes each jump more powerful than the last. This floor captures the energy expended every time you step down and turns it into electricity. The energy collected will be used to power a variety of items.

February 3, 2012maggieNo CommentsEnergy Playground, Super Bowl 2012

The highest scoring game In Indianapolis this week took place at the Super Bowl Village. Eli and Tom took a breather as thousands of football fans stood in line for a chance to generate kinetic energy by running on our giant hamster wheels and scoring touchdowns. A LED bulb (powered by the wheel) lit up [...]

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January 6, 2012maggieNo CommentsEnergy Playground, Super Bowl 2012

Have you ever thought you were going around in circles? If not, then you still have time to hit the road to the Super Bowl to compete in the coolest, 100-yard dash competition ever. Putting a new twist on the energy race, Global Inheritance and the Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee are working together to [...]

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November 10, 2011maggieNo CommentsEnergy Playground

If everything is bigger in Texas, their fishing is no exception. The Toyota Texas Bass Classic takes fishing to the next level by pulling together the top 50 bass fishermen in the world to battle it out for the heavyweight title of bass fishing. While touring the event grounds and waiting for the tournament’s day-end [...]

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November 10, 2011maggieNo CommentsEnergy Playground

Since this was our last festival of the year and final tour stop with our friends at Prius, we wanted this weekend to be awesome. This final installation of the playground for 2011 was our largest to date. The only thing missing was a reliable power source. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait long as [...]

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November 10, 2011maggieNo CommentsEnergy Playground

Powered exclusively by double espresso shots and human energy, the Energy Playground returned to the Seattle Center fully charged. Partnering with our friends at Prius, fans cranked out electricity at the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival in order to receive a human powered snow cone and burn a few calories. Visitors to the Energy Playground [...]

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August 20, 2011maggieNo CommentsEnergy Playground

Saving the best for last, San Francisco brought an exciting end to the Outdoor Nation 2011 tour. The Bay Area brought their best to the event which drew 100 Outdoor Nation ambassadors and hundreds of visitors to Golden Gate Park. Partnering with The North Face, Global Inheritance brought their Energy Playground for folks to enjoy. [...]

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August 20, 2011maggieNo CommentsEnergy Playground

Golden Golden Park on a sunny day is hard to beat. Even better, it provides perfect playground weather. Prius and The Energy Playground challenged San Francisco to an alternative energy smackdown. In this city, renowned for its bicycle commuters, bicycle messengers, and all around bicycle culture, the Energy Playground asked riders to contribute 3 minutes [...]

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August 20, 2011maggieNo CommentsEnergy Playground

Global Inheritance helped Lollapalooza celebrate 20 years with a little elbow grease from festival goers and support from our friends at Prius. Our mission was to arm the free world (within the festival grounds) with human powered snowcones. We didn’t know what to expect with Perry’s stage moving down the block but that didn’t stop [...]

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August 20, 2011maggieNo CommentsEnergy Playground

For the 4th year in the row, Global Inheritance partnered with the Teen Choice Awards to help educate young people everywhere about the environment. This year’s activation was the biggest to date as we took over Hollywood and Highland for 5 days. Kids, talent, tourists and Los Angeles area bike clubs took turns creating electricity [...]

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July 24, 2011maggieNo CommentsEnergy Playground

Can you contribute 3 minutes on a Prius Playground device? If you’ve got what it takes you can earn great rewards. By riding the Energy Seesaw, the Tour de Energy Bikes, or taking a run in the Energy Wheel you can create the electricity to offset your reward. Playground participants will be rewarded with tokens [...]

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