Bike Hugger 

Andrew Heining tipped us to [a post he wrote](http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/07/16/bike-sharing-that-creates-en ergy-%e2%80%93-and-pays-you-to-ride/) for the CS Monitor blog about a Bike Sharing Energy concept designed by Chiyu Chen, a design student at the Royal College of Art.

Users check out specially designed bikes from a locking station using an ID card. Inside the bikes is a system that stores kinetic energy generated from braking. Riders go where they need to, and when they’re finished, bring the bike back to the locking station. Locking up the bike transfers the energy generated by the trip into the city grid - or, as Chen envisions, into a hybrid bus system.

Cool.

Also noticed on

• Inhabit
• Yanko Design
• Endgadget