|
The serious exerciser's motto used to be, no
pain, no gain. At Hong Kong's California Fitness
centers, the new catch phrase might be, no
sweat, no light. When club members use certain
exercise machines, the energy they generate is
turned into stored electricity. To make the
fluorescent tubes in the studio's ceiling light
up, they have to start pumping.
The consoles of the exercise machines themselves
were already powered by human energy. But about
90 percent of the energy produced during
workouts was dissipated as heat.
Lucien Gambarota, a Hong Kong-based renewable
energy entrepreneur and the inventor of the
idea, says an average person can produce 50
watts of electricity per hour. He explains how
the energy created by the exercisers is
transformed into electricity.
"Each of these machines, they are equipped with
a generator inside. So what we did, we diverted
part of the electricity produced by the machine
to recharge a battery, he said. "And with what
we store in the battery, we have been able to
power part of the lighting system."
Gym users are enthusiastic about the new
project, which started at the end of February.
"I think it's a really good idea. At least the
energy is used for something good. It gives you
more reason - you are not wasting what you are
using, so it's better that way," said a club
member.
So far, only 13 of the club's exercise machines
are hooked up to a battery. Because of the
encouraging results in the start-up phase,
however, the center is planning to expand the
idea throughout the gym.
Steve Clinefelter, president of the Asia-wide
California Fitness chain, says his company will
even consider expanding the human power project
further.
"If that proves successful and economically
viable, then we see nothing that would stop us
from continuing to grow to more and more of our
clubs, and ultimately to the entire industry,
and all clubs worldwide would consider and
choose this kind of an alternative power
source," he said.
Clinefelter's other vision for the future: he
says he plans to hook up the club's television
sets to the human-generation system. If you want
to watch TV while working on the stationary bike
or the Stairmaster - you are just going to have
to pump harder.
|
