Remember the Flintstone cars that were powered by their legs? Maybe that’s not such a bad idea. Not literally, of course, but the idea that modern machines can be powered by human energy. If that were possible, think about all of the energy that is expended in your facility in one day. Not by the equipment, but by your members.
Since Earth Day was celebrated this month, and since rising energy costs are on most everyone’s minds, I think the time is ripe for a radical idea: Harness the energy of humans exercising to supply electricity.
This idea actually isn’t that crazy. There is currently a cycle stand on the market that has a battery pack that saves the energy created from cycling into a battery. Currently, most indoor cycles use human energy to power the electronics on the actual cycle. This could be taken one step further, so that any extra energy is stored, or used to power other things in the fitness center (maybe the treadmill next to the cycle?).
For treadmills, strength training and even group exercise, willing participants could have a device attached to them (maybe on their wrists and ankles – I’m making this up, here) that would store the energy created by movement – like those flashlights that are powered by shaking them. This power could be stored in some sort of battery to be used later.
I know it’s a bit of a leap to go from a shakable flashlight to powering a treadmill, but the technology is out there. Someday, fitness centers will be completely powered by the physical energy created by their members. And you heard it here first!
2 comments:
You may have heard about the Green Microgym in Portland where they have four Human Dynamo cycles that help generate electricity. I am in the process of writing a business plan to set up a cycling studio with bikes that power the gym. I love cycling, and I think that more people are enjoying the specialty. Also, more and more people are becoming concerned with global warming and are interested in becoming a part of the solution, so my idea would work well if I can work out the logistics of the generators.
Another fitness center hooked up elliptical trainers to the power grid. The idea is catching on!
http://www.alligator.org/articles/2008/12/12/news/campus/081209_recardio.txt
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