http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/fashion/25gym.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

There is no shortage of incentives to working out: good for the cardiovascular system, helps lose weight, increases serotonin levels in the brain that help us feel better, relieves stress, etc. But while many people turn to home gym equipment or their neighborhood fitness center, electricity is eaten up by all this activity.

But what is happening to the energy we produce through sweaty, exhausting workouts? In the early days of our country, that energy was harnessed through labor and household chores that are now obsolete due to technology. Now, developers in places like Portland, Oregon are finding ways to put this hard work back to use. By fitting stationary bikes with an arm crank and hooking them up to generators, people can burn hundreds of calories while generating hundreds of watts of electricity in response. Clubs around the country are coming up with numerous ways to revolutionize exercise into an energy advocate rather than abuser.

The club has energy efficient treadmills, remanufactured elliptical trainers and barbells “rescued from negligent owners on Craigslist,” Mr. Boesel said. Wall-mounted solar panels, to be installed this fall, will generate about eight kilowatts of electricity, he said. The gym doesn’t have any showers or drinking fountains, and the club’s 70 members live within walking distance, “which is probably the greenest part of the gym,” Mr. Boesel said.

 

The idea to install power generating machines came from a Hong Kong club, California Fitness, that opened last year with similar equipment. On the same day the Microgym opened, the Ridgefield Fitness Club in Ridgefield, Conn., installed yet another version of the technology from a company called the Green Revolution — on 17 of the club’s stationary bicycles.

 

“There’s an undercurrent,” Mr. Boesel said. “In 20 years, all cardio equipment will probably have the capability of generating electricity.”

 

The typical health club uses a huge amount of energy and water, said John Kersh, a former director of international development for the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. But a growing number of conservation-conscious consumers are beginning to change that, he said. “It’s not just, ‘How do you get fit?’ ” Mr. Kersh said. “It’s: ‘How do you make your lifestyle healthier? How do you reduce your carbon footprint?’ ”

Of course, anyone can ride their bike or run outside and not need an electrical outlet. But several people utilize gyms when the weather conditions are bad, late at night, or when there are few desirable outdoor areas at their disposal. While the infrastructure costs of these new operations are also daunting, so is the cost of doing nothing. That may be enough incentive to get people off the couch and start generating some power of their own.

The New York Times; September 25, 2008

Submitted by K. Rutherford