People all over the world, especially in developed nations, need to learn the value of a watt.

Calories are converted into precious watts. You power your gym. 

By Adam Boesel

Net zero energy Gym building

A variety of different terms have been used to characterise very low energy buildings, aiming toward zero energy (ZE) or emissions from a building, whereby any energy consumed within the building is offset by renewable sources, usually at the building site.

So, a simple example of a gym that is aiming to be Zero Energy Building may contain as follows:

• Solar photovoltaics system panels for electricity generation during sunny days and hours.
• Solar thermal systems for hot water shower and for heating the space through winter.
• Retrofit existing exercise machines: Connect several cardio machines to one generator.
• New cardio line with Eco technology that captures human exertion and turns it into usable electricity (Which is focused on in this blog).
• Batteries: Energy storage systems connected to the photovoltaics and to the Eco cardio machines to store the surplus energy during peak times and supply the building when electricity is needed.
• Wall and roof insulation.
• LED lightning and A+ energy efficiency appliances which is controlled by the members that are turned on only when needed.
• Post educational information to inform members how much electricity certain appliances consume.

How it works?!

We can be  generators, we can  power our workout, we don’t need classical inefficient cardio machines to get a good work-out, the banana I eat before going to gym powers the light bulb, furthermore the energy bar my gym mate have is doing its part to keep the ceiling fan on, Every workout is producing pure electricity back to the building.

Friends and neighbours, sweating it out together, all in the name of feeling good, about themselves, about their community, about their gym and about the World. 

The basic Idea behind it in simple words is just taking kinetics of the people working out on the equipment and they’re creating this motion which is then fed back into the building via the gym equipment and the system, harnessing it similar to that of wind and then sending that electricity back into the building or into the storage systems which will be used later on.

From engineering technical prospective : Cardio machines — stationary cycles, treadmills and ellipticals — generate resistance while you exercise. The resulting friction produces heat, which can be converted into energy via a generator. A typical cardio machine contains resistors that eliminate this heat. An external generator can replace the resistors and take in the DC power produced by the machine. According to Tom Gibson’s 2011 article “These Exercise Machines Turn Your Sweat into Electricity” on IEEE Spectrum, an inverter in the generator transforms the DC power into AC, which then feeds the electrical system

How Powerful is your workout?

Eco technology cardio machines -treadmills, ellipticals, cycles and alternate trainers (cross trainer)- can generate up to 250 Watts of electricity per Hours , to simplify the concept ,in average 100 watt-hours can power a laptop for two hours, an iron for up to six minutes and a 15-watt fluorescent bulb for six hours and 40 minutes, with the picture below some estimations can be done to evaluate the concept

How much an Eco friendly gym can save?

According to Adam Boesel the founder of the first eco friendly gym in USA, Green Gyms can save up to 85% in energy costs and have a carbon footprint 85% lower than traditional gym per square foot, in this video he’s explaining how did they reach these numbers in their gym and under which estimations.