Human-Powered Gym
by Molly @ 1:58 am 4 comments »
When you’re green at heart, you make everyday observations from an energy-conservation standpoint. And something that has always boggled my mind is the amount of human energy expended in a crowded gym. Take 24 Hour Fitness for example; it’s packed with hundreds of gym-goers looking to release that extra calorie-laden energy from last night’s burrito or whatever the case may be. Why not direct that energy towards something useful, like powering the gym itself?
While efforts are still in developmental stages, Total Body Turnaround, a micro-gym in Seattle, is a step in the right direction. Creator, Adam Boesel is striving to, “(lay) the groundwork to build a gym that exclusively powered by a combination of solar and pedal electricity while being just as comfortable and effective as any other gym.” Boesel’s creation was originally inspired by Hong Kong’s California Fitness, which produces enough energy to power 3, 27-inch TV sets, or around 300 Watts, according to The Wall Street Journal.
via: inhabitat
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ever since we interviewed ed begley, jr. we’ve been obsessed with the idea of having at least one bike for the office that could generate at least some power to offset what we use! this is an awesome concept.
brings new meaning to the phrase, “go for a spin”,
that Ed gets around:)
300 watts is the same as 0.3 kilowatts. If you will look at a typical power bill you will see that a kilowatt of power costs about 8 cents an hour. 0.3 kilowatts, (which is what this actricle states as the max capacity of the Hong Kong’s California Fitness gym) is about 3 cents worth of electrical power an hour.
It sounds to me like the environmental impact of manufacturing setting up this system will be much greater than the very marginal benefit it will produce.
it follows the lesser of two evils concept: if you are going to build a gym anyway, you might as well save some energy in the long run