A few small commercial gyms have implemented this, as well as the gym at Brown University. Brown estimates that the power generated by its 50 machines is about comparable to what’s generated by the solar panels on the roof of the gym. So it’s not nothing, but gyms tend to be cavernous and expensive to run, so it’s a drop in the bucket, unfortunately.

More unfortunate still is that the takeaway is almost always, “ugh don’t bother, it’s basically nothing” and not, “wait, why are we burning so much fuel to power this room?”

To be fair, the context in which they invoked the case assumed we’d all remember those details already.

Beeps don’t usually come from a speaker, no. You might find this old ELI5 about electronic sound interesting.

And music by Ben Folds

I wonder where this idea originates. As an American, I genuinely don’t know of any restaurant that serves any of this (although I suppose you could special order “plain” things most anywhere in the world). I can’t begin to guess what people eat in the privacy of their own kitchens, but no one I know serves themselves these foods, either. I will say I’ve heard the same lore of “deep fried butter” existing at Midwestern fairs somewhere, but again, I’ve never encountered such a thing irl.