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Ten minutes of untrained pedalling (50 W) produces 658.1 lumen-hours — a full 1,000 lumen-hour night in 15.2 minutes — but solar beats muscle on cost wherever the sun shines; human power wins in emergencies and as a reserve. When the sun, the panel, or the battery fails, human effort is the fallback for light: how much light does it actually buy, and what is it worth against solar?
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William Alexander Aldred (2026) studied this question.
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