On Yer Bike

Danish hotel to get 'green' energy from pedaling guests

A luxury hotel in Copenhagen is taking green energy to a new level on Monday when guests will be able to help provide electricity by pedaling bikes hooked up to generators.

Every guest at the 366-room Crowne Plaza hotel that generates 100 watt hours will in return get a meal worth 200 kroner (27 euros, $36), hotel spokesman Frederikke Toemmergaard said.

Two bicycles will be set up with little screens mounted on the handle bars so riders can see how much electricity they have generated for the hotel, which bills itself as "one of the world's greenest".

Thanks to the set-up, guests will be able "to reduce their carbon footprint and save money and energy," Toemmergaard said.

"A person in bad shape has to pedal about 10 minutes to generate 10 watt hours and someone in good shape can generate up to 100 watt hours in 60 minutes," she said.

The 26-floor hotel claims to be the first hotel in Denmark to have all of its energy provided with renewable sources thanks to solar panels and a groundwater-based cooling and heating system.