We finally emerged from our warehouse in Hackney last Friday with our pedal powered appliances, built especially for nef’s The Bigger Picture exhibition at the Old Barge House on South Bank.

Made from a converted washing machine, lawnmower, TV and Bab’s old food processor, the pieces were turned into pedal powered versions of their former selves. We displayed the appliances with various hand powered devices we had collected such as a vacuum cleaner, juicer, coffee grinder and shaver to create The Human Powered Home.

We managed to scavange bicycles from New Generation in Vauxhall, find a space to work in through Urban Nomads, and borrow a generator from Datablender. Val The Welder joined the team to stick bicycles together and we were a on our way. After a few days tinkering we were able to series to piece together three working prototypes.

After a dilemma over whether to paint the bikes, Ella, Tomoko, Tanya and Taeko came to the rescue and saved us from our toil. We decided that leaving the process of making the objects on show allowed people a better look at what we’ve been up to. To try and turn them into ‘new’ objects was dishonest. We’d recycled these appliances from things that we had found lying around the warehouse and bikes we’d borrowed.

We wanted to show people how we’d made them and encourage them to do the same. Be resourceful and fix what you’ve got.

With obesity on the rise and our societies reliance on appliances or machines to do most of our tasks, we seem to have lost the ability to do things for ourselves. Our exhibition was to show that we can be resourceful with the world around us. We can keep fit and try and reduce our carbon footprint in our home.

“Your carbon ration is based on an annual global per capita emission allowance of 1.15 tonnes of CO2e. This represents your fair share of the right to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. All of the calculations are based on an assumed target of an 80 per cent reduction of current emissions by developed nations by 2050.

Bear in mind that in order to reduce runaway climate change this figure should be viewed as a moving target…it is likely that your ration will be halved over the next five years.

(1 carbon ration is 1.9kg co2e. 20 per cent of your rations go to provide essential public services, leaving you with 40 rations each month. One has been allocated for essential drinking water. )

This ETA 3024 Food Processor (powered by the current UK energy mix) would be responsible for 4g of CO2 every minute. Based on an equitable global share of emissions, one ration (of 40 available each month) would allow 507 minutes of food processing.

An electric lawn mower, such as a Flymo, would be responsible for 9 grams of co2 per minute. Based on an equitable global share of emissions, one ration (of 40 available each month) would allow 135 minutes of lawn mowing… If your lawn mower was petrol powered, your ration would stretch slightly further, allowing 223 minutes of mowing. Human-powered, you could mow to your heart’s content

Even a relatively modest 23 inch LCD TV is responsible for 21 g of CO2 per minute.. Based on an equitable global share of emissions, one of your 40 monthly rations would provide 89 minutes of TV… Human powered, you could watch for as long as your pedal-power lasts… Or you could of course, go out and do something else instead…

This Indesit WIL 143, would be responsible for 534 g of CO2 per wash powered by the current UK energy mix… This means one of your 40 carbon monthly rations would buy 4 washes.

If this coffee grinder were powered by electricity, it would be responsible for 1.4g of co2 per minute…One of your 40 monthly carbon rations would buy you 22 hours of grinding…

An electric tooth brush or shaver draws power while it charges produces 0.2g of CO2e per minute…One of your 40 monthly carbon rations would allow you to charge your tooth brush for 4 days and nights each month…

A conventional juicer would be responsible for 6.5g of CO2e for each minute of juicing… One of your 40 monthly carbon rations would enable you to juice for 5 hours… A simple, rotating juicer would be responsible for only 0.2g of co2e per minute, meaning that one ration would stretch to four days of non-stop juicing….

A conventional vacuum cleaner would be responsible for 14.5g co2e per minute. One of your 40 monthly carbon rations would enable you to vacuum for 82 minutes…”