Gym generates energy from pedal power

Some muscley mastermind at a gym in Portland in the US state of Oregon has devised an ingenious way of getting out of paying the lecky bills - by getting his customers to generate the energy for him.

Adam Boesel's newly opened gym uses human-power to create real energy from four spin bikes at a rate of 200 to 600 watts per hour, depending on how fit the rider is. The energy produced is then stored in a battery that’s used to run the rest of the gym’s equipment, along with solar-power.

Green Microgym, which opened on the 1st September, joins a growing number of human-powered gyms and includes state-of-the-art elliptical trainers and treadmills, which use 30% human-power and 70% solar-power, a yoga room with a cork floor and energy-saving ceiling fans

Similar gyms are already in full swing in Hong Kong and California, where fitness fanatics power the lights as well as the equipment.

Source 1, 2