At this gym, a little sweat goes a long way

An unexpected charge
Despite concerns over cost and efficiency, the people-power movement has spawned a growing number of other projects with names like the “Crowd Farm,” which envisions tapping the power of pedestrians or concertgoers on specially designed surfaces.

Even nightclubs are getting into the act, with two competing “eco-disco” groups, Club4Climate and Sustainable Dance Club, both touting new energy-generating dance floors among a laundry list of green credentials. Club4Climate’s Club Surya in London features an energy-production plan based on piezoelectric principles, in which crystals beneath the floor rub together with every enthusiastic dance move, generating an electrical charge that feeds a battery bank.

A European rival, Sustainable Dance Club, has outfitted its Club WATT in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with a dance floor that instead uses coils and magnets that move with the masses to create an electrical charge. In an e-mail, Sustainable Dance Club spokeswoman Vera Verkooijen said every person on Club WATT’s dance floor will be able to produce 5 to 10 watts of power, depending on their weight and activity level. At the moment, she said, the electricity will stay within the floor and power an interface that includes a glowing energy meter (dubbed the “green ghost”) displaying the floor’s relative power level.

People power may have its limits, though. Beyond the "wow" factor, Sustainable Dance Club representatives have estimated in other news reports that 2,000 clubbers would have to pack the dance floor to power the light system at the club, slated to open Thursday.

The estimated yield of 5 to 10 watts per dancer is about ten-fold lower than the target for Green Microgym’s clientele. But even at top speed, the electricity generated by all of the health club’s exercise equipment may be enough to offset little more than the power consumed by a single treadmill.

Then again, maybe relying on customers to literally power a business isn’t the main point.

Rethinking power needs
“When it comes to talking about ‘people power’ contributing to the daily electricity load that an average person deals with, I think our stance is that those applications would have to become much more efficient for them to make an impact,” said Jeffrey John, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Institute.

The Old Snowmass, Colo.-based nonprofit organization, which encourages the more sustainable use of resources, emphasizes the importance of improving efficiency, especially for the “low-hanging fruit” of lighting systems.

Even so, John said, “I think there’s a significant impact of people thinking about ‘people power’ to just frame their ideas when it comes to thinking about electricity and electricity needs.”

Boesel couldn’t agree more.

Contrary to a few suggestions, he said, “we’re not going to generate enough electricity to power the community.”

He has found plenty of highly visible ways to cut back on the gym’s electric bill, however, including a 3-kilowatt array of solar panels on awnings above the building’s front windows.

Boesel also brought three ECO-POWR Treadmills that each use a maximum of about 1,000 watts instead of the standard 1,500. Because each still consumes 25 watts while in standby mode, the gym will keep the machines turned off when they are not in use. And instead of lighting entire rooms or turning on banks of overhead fans, members will turn on the lights and fans only above their own workspaces.

“We’re saving electricity in every possible way that we can,” he said. “And as I’ve been doing it, I’ve been finding more and more ways to do it efficiently, effectively and affordably.”

Among Boesel’s other environmentally conscious decisions, he laid recycled rubber flooring in exercise rooms and eco-friendly cork in the yoga room, bought remanufactured or high-quality used equipment, and nixed a showering area to save on water and heating costs.

The lack of showers, Boesel said, is more a function of the space serving as a modest-sized neighborhood gym that most members will likely walk or bike to. “If 90 percent of the gym members don’t need it, maybe we don’t need to have it,” he said.

If the thought of a delayed shower induces grumbling in the remaining 10 percent, Boesel is formulating a plan to make it up to them with a kind of “pedaling for pasta” incentive involving local restaurants: For every hour spent generating electricity on the gym’s spin bikes or Team Dynamo machine, an avid exerciser could earn money in the form of a gift certificate to help fill that rumbling stomach.

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