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Green Microgym creator Adam Boesel tests out one of his energy generating bikes. After years in the business, Mr. Boesel was inspired to open the eco-friendly gym in Portland.  (Source: Green Microgym)

The Green Microgym is a perfect place to work out with a broad array of equipment.  (Source: Green Microgym)
This gym is powered by blood, sweat, and determination!

You wake up in the morning and hit the treadmills.  After a few miles, you hit the exercise bikes.  Drenched in sweat, you finally call it a morning.  Sure it's a good workout, but you also have to do your part to keep the local green gym's power flowing strong.

This is exactly the kind of scene that has begun unfolding this week at the Green Microgym in Portland Oregon.  The gym is the first human-powered gym in the U.S.

Adam Boesel, a personal trainer and the owner of the gym came up with the unique idea.  He describes, "We're just harnessing that extra energy that they put out anyway.  For people, that's a no-brainer. They say it's there, you might as well capture it."

Mr. Boesel is no mental slouch either.  He helped to rig up the gyms spin bikes with weedwacker motors and truck alternators to provide juice to the gym's systems.  The gym will also use solar power to offer the remainder of its electricity needed.  It even uses energy-efficient treadmill motors, specially ordered.

The idea has serious potential for gyms nationwide, to provide both cost savings and environmental benefits.  At the Green Microgym, the Team Dynamo and Spin Bikes can generate 0.750 kWh a  piece.  And Mr. Boesel is currently cooking up new gizmos to harness the power of elliptical trainers.

Some may feel that it is outlandish for a 2,800 square-foot gym to be fueled by manpower.  Mr. Boesel doesn't think so.  He states, "It's just going to move the human powered renewable energy technology to the next level.  We're going for 100 percent.  I think at the beginning, we may be 20 to 25 percent."

The gym is not the first worldwide to have dabbled in human power.  In Hong Kong, there is a gym with gadgets connected to the weight machines, where athletes power up the gym with every lift.  The Hong Kong gym's patrons produce enough power to fill its batteries and keep the lights burning bright.  Other companies are also seeking to exploit human based kinetic energy, such as M2E Power, which is debuting a human based iPod/cell phone recharger next year.

The Green Microgym is located in downtown Portland on Northeast 13th Avenue and Alberta Street.



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Similar thought
By GreenEnvt on 8/27/2008 10:10:57 AM , Rating: 5
I always thought it would be a good idea to hook my TV up to my exercise bike. Not to power it directly as I probaly can't make that much power for any length of time, but just to open the relay and allow the TV to be powered. When you stop pedaling, TV turns off.
Good way to force exercise :)




RE: Similar thought
By xsilver on 8/27/2008 11:04:29 AM , Rating: 5
Great idea, it can even be more directly linked to diet.

You want that deep fried chicken? No problem, fire up the deep fryer via pedal power first! They should have these at the line in fast food outlets too :) "Sir, you need to prove that you're worthy of this hamburger, pedal this bike up to 40km/h and we'll serve it to you" There goes a major part of the obesity problem right there :P


RE: Similar thought
By GreenEnvt on 8/27/2008 11:35:55 AM , Rating: 1
lol :)


RE: Similar thought
By Seemonkeyscanfly on 8/27/2008 12:58:59 PM , Rating: 2
I like to save money...so if I could hook up an exercise bike to some sort of battery which helps me save 10% or more on my home electric bill...Then I'd have a good reason to get on the bike an exercise verse just to get in shape. I don't think I'd join a club that uses this equipment....I'm not in a club now why join this one. :)


RE: Similar thought
By Seemonkeyscanfly on 8/27/2008 1:13:50 PM , Rating: 2
Of course something else has popped in my head....If we can hook up a exercise bike, then can a exercise wheel for a pet hamster be hooked up? All I would need to do is buy 2 hamsters, a few hundred wheels and the cable to connect all the wheels to the device that converts to the needed power. Then in 6 months I have hundreds of hamsters and I could then sell back the extra hamster power to the electric company and make millions off of the little rodents!!! Yes, then sell their poop as fertilizer and make more yet....


RE: Similar thought
By xsilver on 8/27/2008 1:14:15 PM , Rating: 4
Even if you take a gallon of steroids, you're not going to contribute any more than 1% of your energy bill if you're heating/cooling your house.

Better idea: Ride an ACTUAL bike rather than an exercise bike when you're going a short distance. Its very EFFICIENT :) and its going to save you more than 1%


RE: Similar thought
By mindless1 on 8/28/2008 8:41:33 AM , Rating: 2
If you're cooling the house, you have a net loss from the heat generated exercising.


RE: Similar thought
By Solandri on 8/27/2008 1:24:26 PM , Rating: 2
If you pay 16 cents per kWh (U.S. average is 10 cents, but let's assume you're in an expensive region to make your idea look as favorable as possible), and you're in great shape, you're generating ~4 cents worth of electricity per hour. If you quit your day job and ran the exercise bike for 8 hours a day, 250 workdays a year, your annual electric bill savings would be $80. If you exercise 1 hour a day, every day, for a year, your annual savings would be $14.60. If you exercise a more typical 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week, your annual savings would be $3.12.

Yes, energy is ridiculously cheap. It's a reflection of how advanced and efficient modern power generation and distribution has gotten, and how cheap coal/nuclear/gas/oil is for the energy it generates. We've come a long, long way from the old horse-drawn carts and oxen-driven mills, romantic notions of the old agrarian days notwithstanding.


RE: Similar thought
By Seemonkeyscanfly on 8/27/2008 2:32:29 PM , Rating: 3
well it was not to make a killing, just an excuse to ride the bike... I was thinking it would be around $3 to $8 per month. But if only $3.12 per year it would not even pay for the equipment.


RE: Similar thought
By Spuke on 8/27/2008 4:55:45 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
But if only $3.12 per year it would not even pay for the equipment.
I would imagine the business would charge enough to recoup the equipment costs and some extra to make a profit.

I think it's a great marketing ploy. Everyone's wanting to "go green" (whatever that is). Why not make a buck off of it?


RE: Similar thought
By masher2 (blog) on 8/27/2008 5:07:34 PM , Rating: 2
Because its exploitative, misleading, and ultimately harmful? The West Coast is already suffering from its lack of will to build sufficient power to handle its own demands. If people get the mistaken idea that "human power" can solve their problems, they're going to be even less likely to approve the next power plant they need.


RE: Similar thought
By Spuke on 8/27/2008 6:22:53 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Because its exploitative, misleading, and ultimately harmful?
You're right but so are other things that no one gets riled up about. Not saying we shouldn't get riled up over this, but it's just one of many. Buyer beware.

Why are oil speculators needed? Why can't the price of oil be tied directly to supply and demand like other things? Why is some a$$hole needed in the middle manipluating the price of oil because he "thinks" it will go up or down sometime in the future or today? I think that's unnecessary and harmful but you and others tell me that's just the way it is (in so many words).


RE: Similar thought
By masher2 (blog) on 8/27/2008 6:31:21 PM , Rating: 2
To be precise, oil speculators -- and commodity speculation in general -- are indeed helpful to us consumers. It signals price changes in advance, giving the market more time to react. Without a commodities market, we'd go back to the spot markets of yore, a time when a single night's bad news meant prices rising by 1000% the next morning. Or falling by nearly as large a margin, a result that puts suppliers out of business and ultimately keeps prices high.

Unlike what a few politicians tell you, speculators exert zero long-term influence on oil. Theoretically, they can have some effect on gold and other commodities which can be stockpiled, but no speculator ever takes delivery on an oil contract. Where would they put it?

Their influence is strictly over short-term prices. And any speculator who guesses wrong about where prices *should* be quickly loses their shirt.


RE: Similar thought
By Spuke on 8/27/2008 6:51:40 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
Unlike what a few politicians tell you, speculators exert zero long-term influence on oil.
Well, I didn't really get that from "our great leaders" but thanks for the explanation. That makes sense.


RE: Similar thought
By FITCamaro on 8/27/2008 6:59:30 PM , Rating: 1
Michael Asher for president! Seriously, he couldn't possibly be any worse than the two idiots we've got running now. Unfortunately I have to vote for one of them. :(


RE: Similar thought
By Solandri on 8/27/2008 10:49:13 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Unlike what a few politicians tell you, speculators exert zero long-term influence on oil. Theoretically, they can have some effect on gold and other commodities which can be stockpiled, but no speculator ever takes delivery on an oil contract. Where would they put it?

Their influence is strictly over short-term prices. And any speculator who guesses wrong about where prices *should* be quickly loses their shirt.

Generally I agree. However, Time had an interesting article on how the process may be short-circuited:

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1...

Basically, they're claiming that the oil producers are able to bid anonymously on the market. Essentially it's like what would happen on eBay if it had no (or very low) sales commissions and the seller were able to bid anonymously on his own auctions. He can artificially bump up the price above market by creating phantom demand. If he goofs and ends up being the highest bidder, well he just bought oil from himself so it doesn't cost him anything, and he just re-lists the contract.


RE: Similar thought
By tmouse on 8/27/2008 1:51:02 PM , Rating: 2
Actually there is someone who already did this. I do not have a link off hand but I remember he set up the system with storage capacity to run his families TV. The kids had to pedal a certain amount each day to watch a limited amount of TV for the week. The system served 3 purposes: provided exercise to avoid the couch potato syndrome, encouraged reading and cut some of the electricity bills. He said the only downside was in the fall when he had to pedal to watch football.


Oh noes! Carbon-Dioxides!!!
By Indianapolis on 8/27/2008 11:09:23 AM , Rating: 4
But what about all the additional carbon dioxide these human power-generators are pumping into the atmosphere? Are we sure that this will actually result in a smaller carbon-footprint for the gym?

Seems to me like this "green" stuff is getting a little ridiculous, and that the true purpose of many of the so-called conservation efforts is to take advantage of people's guilt to make a profit.




RE: Oh noes! Carbon-Dioxides!!!
By rollakid on 8/27/08, Rating: 0