Make cows generate electricity?
 

When I read this I just had to post it here. :D While being quite funny, I do wonder how much power one cow can generate in a day...

Should We Stick Cows on Treadmills to Generate Electricity? | Fast Company

http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/PSC0510HL049cr.jpg

2 kilowatts of output, I suppose it depends on how long that cow is willing to walk continuously up a ramp to eat for the total amount of power. Might depend on the hunger level. Get the cows to take turns on the treadmill and you would produce something similar to a roof of solar electric panels.

My downstairs neighbors and I were joking that it would be fun to get an ox or two. They could keep our front yard mowed, and tear out all the weeds. They'd be a good source of compost. But most of the time, they'd live in a round pit in the basement, walking in a circle all day and night. They'd be yoked to a shaft that distributes torque throughout the house. You could throw a belt over it and run your washer, dryer, food processor, microwave turntable, etc. In the winter, we'd use the shaft to drive a brake to heat the house.

It would probably be way more efficient to burn the cow's food to run an engine, but hey, cows on treadmills are more fun.

Thanks for posting this, it was actually very curios to read. I could never imagine it was even possible so that it even sounded kinda funny.