The Case For Green Fitness Equipment:

If you’re reading this, you are a pioneer. You want to make the world a better place for future generations. You know there are no magic bullets that will instantly change everything for the better. You understand that every little bit of progress is good, and you have to start somewhere.

You also understand that making electricity through human power is not a money-maker all by itself. It’s a common sense way to introduce and educate people on all things Eco-Fitness, like healthy eating of less-processed food, to efficient use of facility resources, and building community through consistent exercise. If you have the choice between wasting energy and not wasting it, what would you choose?

Now you can start a Green Gym without having to re-invent a business model, or invent new technology.  The equipment now exists and it’s affordable.  The Green Microgym, established in 2008, is known as the world leader in Eco-Fitness, and is the blueprint for the future of fitness.

The Cost to Produce and Purchase the Equipment is the Same

Until late 2014, although the technology to retrofit exercise equipment to send electricity back to the grid existed, it was not cost effective to do so. You would have to purchase regular equipment and then retrofit it.  That’s what I had been doing since 2009. It worked fine for me in my gym, but there was no way to scale up.  But now, SportsArt Fitness has come out with a line of grid-tied, plug into the wall fitness equipment, priced competitively with other gym-quality exercise equipment.  Their machines are priced on the high end of the gym equipment spectrum, but are not overpriced based on their quality or because they have grid-tied capability.  The reasons they are able to do this: 1. They are large enough ($100 million+ annual sales) to be able to do large production runs of the equipment, and 2. They are simply taking out old electronics and putting in new electronics.  The price of materials and components has not changed for them.  They just had to design new equipment.

Better than Solar/Wind where you have to ADD ON or Find Property.

Although the power output for fitness equipment can’t be compared apples to apples with solar or wind due to the limitations of human power (and motivation), it’s important to remember this is exercise equipment, and there are already millions of exercise machines in use all over the world. Nothing needs to be done to get ready for this power source, except wait until the current equipment needs to be replaced.  We don’t need to purchase land and build large structures to harness this energy.  The gyms have already been built.

There are No Installation Costs (this equipment is plug and play)

The only need for a professional electrician for installation of this equipment is if the building will need extra circuits to handle all of the new electricity being generated. For example, a spin class with 30 participants will be able to generate more than 3KW.  But in most situations, the current commercial power setup in the buildings will be able to handle the added electricity.

The Equipment is UL Compliant and Comes With a Warranty

SportsArt has the same warranty for this equipment as any of their other equipment, and there is at least one exercise equipment service company in every city that will be able to work on their machines, just like any other brand. If the parts need replacing, whether they are under warranty or not, it’s as simple as calling the local service company or SportsArt.

Each Watt Created Saves 1 Watt of Cooling, Essentially Doubling Efficiency

Current equipment turns human energy into heat, then has to be cooled by air conditioning. (1 watt of heat generated = 1 watt of cooling needed).

The most common objection to the viability of this equipment is that it doesn’t create THAT much electricity, so it’s a waste of time to even think about it. Hopefully, the above facts have covered that objection.  But it is important to note that the current “self-powered” exercise equipment in use in most gyms around the world still has to do something with all of the extra energy being created by their users.  The current solution is to put that energy into resistors that heat up inside the machines to dissipate the energy.  In a home or small gym, this heat is negligible and wouldn’t make a noticeable change in the room.  However, in larger gyms where dozens of machines are in use for most of the day, this extra heat adds up and must be cooled by the building’s cooling system.  So, the user creates extra energy, and then the cooling system uses extra energy to keep the room from getting too hot.  This essentially doubles the waste of energy from “self-powered” exercise equipment.  However, grid-tied equipment sends that electricity right back to the building, creating no extra heat.  So, instead of spending 100 watts of cooling energy for each machine, you are saving those 100 watts – a 200 watts net improvement.

Getting Started Going Green is Easier Than You Think:

SportsArt Tracking App Review: