Pedaling for Power - Exercise Equipment as Electrical Generators

Generating electricity while exercising is smart. And, like many good ideas, it's being invented in quite a few places:

• "Elliptical machines help keep the lights on"
  That's Fit (June 23, 2008)
  • "The elliptical machines at my local Gainesville Health & Fitness Center are being used for more than health and fitness. They're being used to convert the energy spent exercising into something pretty darn useful: Electrical power.
  • "Credit for this energetic feat goes to Hudson Harr, the 22-year-old who came up with the ReCardio system -- a patent-pending technology currently wired to 15 elliptical machines and working to convert the kinetic energy from pushing pedals into electricity. The power produced by the machines is plugged straight into the utility grid, which helps produce power for the gym and offsets utility costs...."
• "While You're at It, Why Not Generate A Little Electricity"
  Wall Street Journal (March 1, 2007)
  • "HONG KONG -- A health club here is hoping that a car battery, some StairMasters and dozens of gym rats can help ease the world's energy problems.
  • "Rita Wong is doing her part. One evening recently, the fit 27-year-old, dressed in black spandex, pedaled furiously on an elliptical machine at the California Fitness health club. As she worked up a sweat to a Madonna song blasting on the gym's sound system, the energy she created was transformed into electricity and stored in a battery that powers some of the gym's lights.
  • " 'It's very good motivation,' Ms. Wong said, pointing at the fluorescent bulb above her head. 'You can watch yourself burning fat to turn on that light.'
  • "This virtuous cycle is just one of a wave of projects on the fringes of the renewable-energy movement that are trying, in small ways, to tap the power of the human body...."

The idea of making use of small amounts of power generated by exercise machines makes good sense.

The elliptical walker makes around one kilowatt every 10 hours, according to the That's Fit post. Right now, in most places, that energy is converted to heat. That's fine during a Minnesota winter, but the extra heat can mean more energy going to the air conditioning.

Converting the mechanical energy into electricity and adding that to the local power grid is just plain good sense.