When someone goes to ‘work’, they get paid, but when you go to the gym to ‘exercise’, you have to pay them, why? Why do we have to pay to exercise? Why can’t they pay us? Luckily, health insurance companies now give discounts to people with gym memberships, and that’s good, but we’re still expending energy, which in physics means work. When we spend energy in the gym, it is wasted, why?
Why waste energy? Think of all the calories we are burning. My friends, that’s energy. Shouldn’t we charge for it? Perhaps use that energy to charge tech devices, turn on gym lights, or play a video monitor in front of us? Why not sell that power back to the grid and get a discount from the gym for “our work”? Think about that for a moment, because this idea is not farfetched at all. let’s talk yes?
In December 2016 there was an interesting article in the Sacramento Bee titled; “New Sacramento Gym Harnesses People Power,” which read:
“Sacramento Eco Fitness, which opened its doors on December 18, is equipped with 16 specially designed SportsArt exercise bikes that use a standard three-prong plug to return power to the electrical grid. The owner of the gym was looking for an entrance in the fitness business: Once he decided eco-friendly was the way to go, he said, he was drawn to SportsArt’s Eco-power equipment because it’s so easy to use.”You could have this in your house and make it work the same way,” he said. Most exercise bikes waste all the energy used by those who ride them. SportsArt bikes use a built-in inverter to convert that kinetic energy into usable AC electricity.”
This is a brilliant business model as it makes people think they are doing something good, even if it is hard to get them to switch to all the LED lights in the home or adjust their air conditioners 3 degrees higher in the summer. However, every little bit helps and wasting energy is stupid, especially when we have the technology and knowledge to convert it efficiently and reuse it. Someone in a spin class might put out about 200 watts, someone on a treadmill about the same. That’s enough to run 10 multi-head LED lights in the gym (20 watts each). It is also enough to run your smartphone.
All together in the gym, well, it all adds up, to give you an idea. Perhaps this little business in suburban Sacramento needs a nationwide franchise, as other green entrepreneurs might take notice. Think about it.