Thousands of students, faculty and community members enhance their personal health and fitness at the University of Oregon’s Student Recreation Center. With all this activity, we find ourselves wondering – how much energy could the rec center produce with human power? While the rec center doesn’t currently have a plan to become more innovative with its energy conservation, it’s not hard to imagine how the contributions of modern technology and “thinking green” have the potential to benefit our bodies and the environment.
The rec center has 40 stationary bikes that have the potential to generate anywhere from 50-70 watts per half hour depending on the effort levels of the person pedaling.
There are environmentally friendly and cost-effective ways to assemble electricity-converting generators for these bikes. Adam Boesel, owner and founder of the Green Microgym in Portland, Ore., said that hooking up generators to stationary bikes is cheap and easy. “Any motor can be a generator and the concept is based on wind,” explains Boesel. “As long as the motor is spinning, you are generating energy.”
Boesel has installed generators for as little as $20 at Green Microgym. Energy produced from a single workout session can generate enough electricity to power a light bulb for one hour. The more bikes in use, the more energy that can be produced. Boesel’s system, for example, generates about 1000 watts (one kilowatt) of electricity that is saved in a battery and used to power TV and entertainment systems in the gym.
University student and avid cyclist Megan Frankel thinks this possibility for the rec center could be a small step toward energy conservation. “This is an amazing opportunity for our generation to contribute,” says Frankel. ” I would pedal faster not only to benefit myself, but to benefit our campus.”
Physical education instructor Susan Graham looks forward to seeing progress in upcoming advancements that could increase the amount of energy produced by the pedal. “I think that the idea of charging the batteries with pedal power is fun … with more research, it will be something special.”
Boesel thinks the rec center should start working on this conversion process right away. “We have two choices, we can either continue to waste energy or figure out ways to limit use.”
The possibilities to store energy in the rec center still remain untapped. But making one small change could benefit and support a worldwide cause of energy conservation.
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Power of the pedal
Daily Emerald
March 8, 2009
Joseph Bomber
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