In Downtown Los Angeles, a gym owner approached Soul Ecology to inquire about re-using energy generated via the cardio machines in his gym. He had cardio stair equipment, cardio rowing equipment, cardio treadmill equipment and cardio bicycle equipment. He was especially interested in a particular type of cardio-bicycle equipment.

The gym had 50 "spinning" bicycles that were used in a spinning class. Each day, the gym offered 6 classes that last a total of 45 minutes. The first class began in the evening at 3:00 pm and completed at 8:45. The classes were usually full and he felt that he could harness a tremendous amount of electricity and reduce the demand of his facility at peak times.

Soul Ecology took the challenge to identify the equipment to harness electricity. We found several companies that had attachments that powered generators to create electricity. We knew how to attach the power inverters and we knew how to transmit the electricity to the building via a transfer switch.

We provided an estimate to the gym owner, who was impressed with what we found, but he decided not to pursue the human powered generator process. Soul Ecology feels this is an area of renewable energy that will grow in the future. We listed a couple of companies and their products below:

Windstream Power offers two types of human power generators. Both are based on transforming movement of the human body into electricity. The Human Power Generator MkIII and the Bike Power generator are the solution to energy education in the classroom, failsafe backup power, and productive exercise. Check out the Portable Power Pack and make your HPG even more useful!