You’re welcome. 
Sure, but just how much energy do you think one puny hamster could generate?
Rabbits aren’t rodents, if that’s what you’re implying.
Something like this came up when we were discussing why exercise bikes don’t come with generators, with the upshot being that a human biker would be hard put to power a single 100 watt light bulb while going full power. Hamster generators just would never produce enough energy to pay for the equipment, feeding, and logistics involved.
I hope JoshuaSD is pleased to note that a certain Isaac Newton beat him to this invention:
Five-year-olds. Now, there’s an energy source just going to waste.
We’d have to make it look like play time, wouldn’t we? Pesky child labor laws to work around, too. Some kind of device that didn’t depend on the kids running in the same direction for any length of time. Parental consent forms… snack time… nap time…
Darn. It seems so promising.
I didn’t see any follow-up posts yet, expressing any appreciation of the vast implications here. Why is it up to me to have to state this? If you have fifty gyms a day powering their neon signs with human treadmills, friends, you’ll have The Alice’s Gymnasium Anti-Hamster Massacree Movement. And all you have to do to join it, my friends, is sing along the next time it comes around on the treadmill. . . .
We’re just waiting for it to come around on the treadmill here . . .
All I know is, ain’t nobody puttin’ no hamsters up in me.
Of course Newton beat me to it. He seems to have beat me to every one of my great ideas.
As for the five-year-olds. I’m thinking a sound proof booth at every restaurant. Inside a giant treadmill. It will both power the restaurant and silence the screaming kids so I can eat in quiet well lit ambiance.
So there Newton invent that!
Looks like someone has already found a way to do it. Link here.
Thats perfect! I knew hamsters rocked.
Assuming its legitimate, and from the video and pictures I have no reason to think its not, I think I may just try it out myself. At least once I finish the other 10,000 projects around the house that need doing.
Thanks to all. This was way more than I ever thought I would get on this absurd but fun little topic. SD comes through once again.
No ignorance is too absurd to be fought! 
What kind of person says rabbits aren’t rodents and hops off without lagging more for supplying the correct category? I thought this site was about knowledge.
BTW, Pessimist, hamsters and gerbils will work for crack cocaine too. Plus when some die from overwork, excess crack, or starvation, the critters still alive will eat the dead ones for their crack content. Efficiency!
I’m trying to find a story on making essentially pressure plates that generate electrical power when walked on. Having no luck at the moment…
Two places that were brought up on having them installed were schools and playgrounds.
Hmm yes… a piezoelectric material, maybe with some springs… I guess it could work! I wonder how much electricity you could produce this way and how expensive it would be…
Sidewalks downtown in big cities, and dance floors in bars and clubs. Also the aisles leading to and from entrances and bathrooms.
The easiest way to get power from kids in a playground is to put generators on the merry-go-rounds, swings and seesaws. And no pesky labour laws - the kids are playing. 
Si
Some absurdities, however, should be ignored.
Y’all are missing the point. What if you’re raising hamsters anyway? Say you need 'em for food for your guard python? It’s about making efficient use of resources. If you’re raising them anyway, why not extract all the value you can from them?
Perhaps we could plug them into artificial womb-things and use them as batteries in a matrix before feeding them to the pythons.