Thursday, January 04, 2007

New Year Resolutions - New Ideas


As the New Year starts many people have decided to make the 2007 resolution to get fit. This seems an honourable endeavour - yet is there a way of doing this whilst also helping society or the environment?

One idea may be to actually generate energy whilst burning off calories. This could be done using 'alternative fitness centres' with gym equipment that generated electricity whilst people exercised. The quantity of energy produced could be displayed individually or combined in groups to encourage teams representing communities, firms or schools. Currently, most existing gyms have a system whereby to expend calories you are using a machine using electrical energy during operation. Hence using electrical energy to expend human energy, but why not use the human energy and transfer to storable energy?

Simple modification of these gym equipment designs could incorporate small generators that feed into the building energy system. For example, a fitness cycle could be fitted with an alternator via the flywheel instead of using air or magnetic resistance. The gym building could also be designed in a highly energy efficient manner to include power generators such as wind turbines and solar panels incorporated in the construction.
So next time you go to the gym, have a think whilst on the running machine, if there is a way you could burn your calories and help the environment.

2 comments:

Treehouse Surfer said...

Really good idea. Incredible no one's already done this.

Editorial said...

Nice one Michelle.