SAY GOODBYE TO THE FAT ASS, AND POWER THE BUILDING WHILE DOING IT

Among the more unusual features at the Green Microgym in Portland, OR, which opened Friday, is a four-person machine called Team Dynamo, which harnesses the collective power of exercisers as they pedal and turn hand cranks. Unlike with spin bikes, the added hand cranks are designed to provide rigorous upper-body workouts — as well as yield additional electricity.

In addition to the Team Dynamo, Boesel has re-engineered a small motor to capture the pedal power from a trio of spin bikes and generate electricity for the gym’s television and stereo system. A more sophisticated version, he said, could be scaled up for larger spaces.

The total output is small but not insignificant — initially, Boesel believes the Team Dynamo and his modified spin bikes could collectively generate about 1,000 watts per hour. But beyond the modest boost in member-generated power, Boesel also hopes to encourage patrons to reconsider how they can reduce their own electricity use while trimming their waistlines.

People power
As a personal trainer with a dream of opening a neighborhood gym, Boesel began thinking about how his idea might stand out from other health clubs. At first, he set his sights on more traditional measures like installing solar panels. But then he read an article in an entrepreneurial newsletter about how Hong Kong’s California Fitness gym had begun generating electricity from 13 spin bikes and elliptical machines as a pilot project.

“This Hong Kong gym showed that at the very least, it’s possible,” he said. “It doesn’t take a lot of extra money to do, so I said, ‘This is what I’m going to do,’ and I just started doing it.”

Portland’s Green Microgym is the first commercial test site for the Team Dynamo machine, made by Henry Works Research and Development. The El Paso, Texas-based company also makes a one-person Human Dynamo machine, which has begun popping up around the country. An early prototype even made its way to the U.S. Ski Team’s training facility in Park City, Utah.

President Mike Taggett, who has a background in alternative energy, has spent much of his time figuring out how much power an exercising person can generate over a sustained period of time, and how that electricity-generating process might be made more efficient. “Fifty percent is fairly basic,” he said, “but we could get to 60, 70, and maybe as much as 75 percent efficient.”

Taggett’s Human Dynamo, a single modified spin bike with a hand crank, can deliver a full-body workout while generating a net electrical output of about 50 watts per hour.

The more complicated Team Dynamo version, which Boesel has at his gym, consists of four machines bolted together with a common driveshaft that propels an electrical generator. On the low setting, Taggett said, four people could produce in excess of 150 watts per hour. On the high setting and with seasoned athletes, the system could yield maybe 400 watts per hour, while sprints could produce bursts of 700 to 900 watts.

For each Dynamo, about 70 percent of the power output comes from pedaling, with the rest supplied by turning the hand crank. During each exercise session, an LED display shows the wattage and calculates the average watt-hours every five minutes, with a final readout revealing the total watt-hour production by the individual or quartet.

At the moment, an “off grid” system directs the watts toward charging batteries that in turn power an inverter, creating 120 volts of alternating current. Eventually, both Taggett and Boesel would like to see a more efficient “grid tie” system wired directly into the gym’s electrical panel.

If a larger health club followed the same concept using several dozen exercise machines, Taggett said, the power could really start to add up. “It’s very conceivable that a gym could be primarily user-powered during the busy times,” he said.Brilliant! I love it.

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