Comments on: HUMAN-POWERED GYMS in Hong Kong

By: gege

gege — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:57:45 +0000

Good idea, like little cute mice running on the wheels. At this point, exercise bike are more efficiency that treadmills especially the electric treadmills. Like my friend did, use lifespan exercise bike as power generator to provide energy for the treadmill. Brilliant ideas.

By: treesugar

treesugar — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:54:24 +0000

lovely, i agree with stephen that building a model from the ground up to capture the most movement should be key. should this technology be use for prisons?

By: frankscags

frankscags — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:41:11 +0000

I would love to get involved in this idea.

By: boaster

boaster — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:41:11 +0000

Yes, there is the issue of calories burned to create the power, but no form of power generation can defeat the laws of thermodynamics. The point is, people are going to be exercising anyway so it’s better to capture that power for something rather than nothing.

By: zaneselvans

zaneselvans — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:23:22 +0000

Of course, each calorie of food energy you burn requires about 10 calories of fossil fuel to produce (at least in the US), so this is going to be a losing proposition climatically and energetically. See Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

By: giovanni

giovanni — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:48:50 +0000

this is for john
john you calculation and your arguments are based on how much oil can we save well this is good but not good enough the idea is to find a way to eliminate oil from the equation may be looking at solar film technologies will reshape your nice ideas

By: amanmalik

amanmalik — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:01:11 +0000

Can anybody tell me how this machine works in detail, every single if possible,
Thanks
Aman

By: Roj

Roj — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:50:30 +0000

This is what happens when you don\’t pull your finger out after a brainstorm!
I have diary notes of my invention from 1993.
The only difference with my system is that it\’s grid connected and each user has a swipe card which they swipe on whatever machine used which stores relevant information such as joules expended and converted to electrical energy over time. This is a good motivation tool for the user and educates the user on energy transfer in regards to the energy content of food they eat and then converted to mechanical to electrical energy.
My grand vision is seeing huge gyms one day used as charging stations for the inevitable electric car.
Oh well, better to see it out there than not at all!

Good on ya Lucien!

By: rookie

rookie — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:40:10 +0000

there are bike generators on the market, there are models that are for real bycicles and models that are just a set of pedals that you can use as you please (feet or hands, in whatever position you can set it up).

here is one site
http://www.scienceshareware.com/bike_gen.htm
http://www.sustainability.ofm.uwa.edu.au/welcome/exercise_bike_generator
http://www.windstreampower.com/

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:35:22 +0000

Is it possible to send the electricity generated back out to the grid and sell it to utility companies? I don’t see the benefit in turning on a useless light in the gymnasium. Plus, that would elimate the costly battery pack. What about resistance machines besides cardio stuff? For example, Lat pull down machines, leg presses, chest presses, etc.

By: JenaAnn

JenaAnn — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:23:04 +0000

I am currently designing an eco-friendly wellness center and i was just wondering if i design it with the “human powered” in mind, can we spec just any cardio machines to do this or would it have to be a certain one?

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:12:42 +0000

I love it!

Just for the record:
1) one person has the ability to produce 50 watts exercising at a moderate pace (not “watts per hour” – this commonly used unit doesn’t exist – it would express joules per second*hour – some sort of acceleration of power generation).
2) one person exercising one hour per day for a year would generate 18.2 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year (not “kilowatts per year” – again, that would mean would be some sort of acceleration of power generation, or an addition to electricity generation capacity). Additionally, the average person would produce ~20 kWh/yr, not 18.2 – remember sig. figs!
3) although not blatantly incorrect, reporting the prevention of carbon dioxide in liters is sloppy (at least without reporting what conditions are being assumed). A liter is not an absolute measure of a gaseous substance, as the density of gases change based on pressure and temperature. Assuming NTP (20oC, 1 atm), the density of carbon dioxide is 0.001842 kg/L, yielding 8.07 kg. At STP (0oC, 1 atm), the density is 0.001977 kg/L, yielding 8.65 kg. This sloppiness could be fixed in one of two ways (preferably both) – by expressing it in an absolute quantity (mass), or by expressing it with an appropriate number of significant figures (there’s no way this value could be known to an accuracy of +/- 5 liters), in which case the issue would be lost in the uncertainty. (Densities from Engineering Toolbox)

By: Ronnie

Ronnie — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:03:40 +0000

Hi guys,
Have any of you guys constructed/fabricated any of such machines yet? I am constructing one and I am interested to discuss with any of you on how to improve the efficiency.

btw, any of you happen to reside in Singapore? Well, at least, that’s where i am.

Ronnie
ronnietew@hotmail.com

By: Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:45:12 +0000

Lucien,

Well, you have stolen my idea. But that’s OK. I am thinking of a slightly different approach.

It seems to me that the machines that we use in gyms today do not translate potential human energy as efficiently as they could. In other words, for this idea to really have greater impact we would need to design some new machines from the ground up. For example, while cardio-machines are the obvious best use for now, they don’t make full use of upper body capacity for generating power at the same time as the legs are generating power. New machines that take advantage of whole body motion could double the possible output on a per machine basis. And combining that with possible efficiencies in translating the energy (smoother gear ratios, less friction, etc.) might produce even better outcomes.

Thanks and good luck!

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:29:02 +0000

Bravo!
You cannot stop people from going indoors to exercise, even if it is nice outside. By using the human to power or replace some of the power used to operate the machine, it will only reduce the amount of power that would have normally been used at the gym. This wil also start an attitude towards users going “green”, and possibly make a real difference.
Have you contemplated using an access card which records the amount of energy produced by the user, and then give a “refund” back to the user? By recording the time the user is exercising, there may be a way to get insurance companies to pay for some or all of the gym use in order to reduce the user’s future health problems (AKA: Preventative Maintenence).