Free Electric?

Plausable but difficult to impliment.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/conservation/these-exercise-machines-turn-your-sweat-into-electricity

Drew K

A quote from "The Mummy"

"Hey, Winston! Pedal faster. "

Anyways, I had taken some project management classes.

In this, I had listed it, as an option.

Since, these other students were business majors, I had did some calcs to power a 100 watt light bulb for comparison, the amount of energy needed is:

• E = Pt = (100 W)(3600 s) = 360000 J
• Since 1 cal = 4.184 J :
• E = 360000 J= (360000 J)*(1 cal / 4.184 J) = 86042 cal

So you see, allot of calories are required to light a 100W Light Bulb.

The main project was data collection, the energy use was just out of curiosity.

What brought it on,

I had a anytime fitness membership. And with this you get a FOB to let you gain access to the building. It's nation wide.

My Idea was that you would use this FOB on all the equipment to record your exercise program. Such as type of equipment, Length, Intensity. And Calories Burned.......etc..... And then you can access the data off the web.

• E = 360000 J= (360000 J)*(1 cal / 4.184 J) = 86042 cal

So you see, allot of calories are required to light a 100W Light Bulb.

It is worth noting, however, that a food calorie is 1Kcal, so 86 food calories will do the job. This is why, when you use any of the exercise machines that show calories burned, the values are so discouraging, if you are trying to lose weight: a Big Mac represents many many hours of pedaling.

For something light, I recommend Steak and Shake. Their Frito's Chili Cheese Double Steak Burger has 1070 calories, and a Chocolate Fudge Brownie Milkshake has 1280. Chase this with a Diet Coke at 0 calories, to keep the calories down. Pedal briskly for three or four 8-hour days, and you can use up those calories.

Thanks Ken,

And yes, I want to lose 15-20 lb's ......... 86 food calories isn't bad........

There's a subway right next to Anytime Fitness........ I sometimes stop there after.

Because, I don't think people would put a good light it, if they see me exercising while eating a Big Mac..... with ketchup running down my shirt.....

That interchangeability <dammmit I can't spell it> use of 'calories' and 'KCals' is well worth noting.

Several years back I was watching some program about research by The Building Research Establishment. To model heat distribution and loss within a building, they had a bunch of robots set up to amble around a test building. Each was equipped with a 100w bulb to simulate the heat radiated by a person. That's to simulate a person doing normal household stuff. Nothing strenuous, just ordinary folk moving around a house.

To further the point, weight-loss shows on telly sometimes come out with stats such as 'you need to run a mile to burn off the calories from 1 chocolate bar'. Ahem ? I'm no fan of snack bars, but based on the sugar in my daily coffee consumption I should run about 500 miles to avoid looking like Jabba the Hutt. I'm not 'on the pull' (), but no way do I do a daily 500 mile jog.

Somebody may have beat me to it, but I found some nice links (whilst reclining on the chaise longue).

And yet, on the flat stages of the Tour de France and similar cycling races, the riders burn approximately 5000 calories on the race, and half as much again on the mountain stages.

I do not want to discourage such wonderful thinking. If our friend has thought a novel mean to get free power from work outs, instead of wasting in heat of breaks while paddling or lifting weights or pull ups etc. Even if the calories input is utilised in illumination or ventilation of Gym there is a saving and earning of Carbon Numbers.

"Even if the calories input is utilised in illumination or ventilation of Gym there is a saving and earning of Carbon Numbers."

Only in theory. In reality the energy demands of a typical workout facility would be many hundreds of times greater at any one averaged point than what the people working out would produce.

Lighting, heating water for the showers, air conditioning, ventilation fans, refreshment and snack machines, water coolers, outdoor signage, and so on will easily represent a multi tens of kilowatts per hour base load running 24 hours a day.

Whereas the dozen or so people working out might make a KWH or so per hour when averaged out over 10 - 14 hours the facilities are open for the day.

Read my note carefully I am just suggesting lighting and ventilation- no other loads

What load is powered is irrelevant.

Electricity powers every system in the building and it all gets measured by the utility company from one central meter so it does not matter where the people power goes. It all gets used just the same.

"kilowatts per hour"?

a little off topic but I like this quote from Henry Ford. It went something like this.

"Chop your own wood will warm you twice"

Whereas the machines they are using cost between $1000 - $5000 per machine plus adding an actual generator and grid tie feedback system would likely add another $500 - $1000 to the cost of each machine.

I never did the cost comparison, or thought much into the design. But having the generator also act as the resistance would lower some of the costs............ how you can vary the resistance, is for someone else to have to answer.

As far as the added cost, one has to look at the total ROI.

And that would include:

• Having a so-called green establishment, ^{I hate that word but there are people that eat that up}
• Life of the unit
• Maintenance of the unit
• And if its hooked up to the TV as you work out, and as your running or peddling on it, if you start slacking, your TV begins to fade out.....

The point is as far as humans getting exercise go we aren't worth the sweat we make while doing it in terms of being worth anything related to usable work being done.
And that extends to almost every thing we do. Especially if you consider attorneys in the mix, where every calorie expended has a negative consequence.

It could be effective for something like recharging a cell phone or I-pad, but for any meaningful input into the power grid, NO.

"productive in societal terms"

good answer only if we can pass judgement on the qualifier: "productive"

solve that one and solve hand-out-government and credits and entitlements energy exchange...

The court system already uses Public Service hours as a substitute for paying fines, the welfare system should do the same since the system already exists and would take very little effort to transfer it's basis of records keeping over from the courts to the welfare departments.

They tried something similar that in Wisconsin with Tommy Thompson was Governor back in the 90's called workfare. I believe Minnesota had something there also when Ventura was Guv.

In Wisconsin it worked great, some how lost it steam. But now I believe there are limits are imposed that turned welfare into a safety net and not a career choice.

"to produce free electricty"

Only work until a customer wants his cut.

Then maybe start a new business paying them to exercise!

Very good idea and good thinking.

On Japanese TV, as part of a science show, they did an experiment with bicycle riders to see how many were needed to provide enough power to operate a small motor-driven merry-go-round (including the lights on the merry-go-round). If I remember right, they had college students who were members of bicycle clubs doing the pedaling. I don't remember exactly, but I think they ended up needing 60 or so pedaling before they could get the carousel started, and the riders were completely exhausted after less than 5 minutes of operation. But it was interesting to see.

Another thing is that I vaguely remember from my college days long ago and far away seeing an "adult" Italian movie that managed to obtain electricity in another way: By connecting to the beds in a hotel, and using the up/down motion that naturally occurred there. Just wish I could remember the name of the movie...

This is a very low intensity energy source, which would require substantial money and equipment to harvest--so much so that it is far from a "green" idea.

It was a Soylent Green idea, though.

Of course there is. The bottle dynamo does this on a push-bike:

The maximum is around 120W per average person though most bottle dynamos are nowhere near this as otherwise the bike just wouldn't go anywhere when being pedalled.

It's actually hilarious watching people drive to the gym. Why the possibility of going for a walk or a pleasant bike ride doesn't occur to them instead is a mystery, as is the ability of the gym to sell products that don't involve those activities. Another hilarity is watching them drink bottled water products while doing it. Who was it that said, "a fool and his money are easily parted"?

120W per person x 8 hours per day x £0.12GBP per kWh equals.....<tap, tap, tap>...er....£0.115GBP per person per day or £23GBP per annum per person on a 200 day working year. It is "in the noise".

I rode too fast using these one night, and ended up melting the wheel that rubs against the tire. It doesn't work so well when that wheel is shaped like a "D".

That's so sad. One hopes it was under warranty...

You may think it is hilarious and even foolish, because you are an engineer. But the reality is they most probably work in a bank or some finance related company, their pay cheque is hundred time fatter than engineers' and they dont think it hilarious to drive their Posche to gym for 10 minute workout and drink $10 / bottle french mineral water. Very often I have similar thinking.

Really?

If this were proved to be viable, how long would it be before our employers had us pedaling away all day to power the PCs & lighting we use for work?

As processors get smaller and more efficient this could happen! I wonder how long I would have to peddle to power my laptop for an hour, or to recharge my mobile phone?

Drew K

It depends on your salesmanship skills.

That's amazing!!! I was thinking about exactly the same thing yesterday!!!

I was reading about a kind of "ball" containing a mechanism that converts the mechanical shocks to electric energy (as the kids play with that) which is stored inside (in a battery?) and can be used later. In this way, you can use the "kids' energy" for producing electricity. And then I thought "What about all these machines in a gym? We could use them to produce electricity too. Why all this physical effort (during exercise) goes to waste?"

So, yes, I think that it's a good idea...

There was a "Bang goes the theory" episode where they showed how many people on exercise bikes you needed to power a typical house for a day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C93cL_zDVIM

It's just not worth the capital investment.

I'm sure there's a grant or low interest loan from the government out there some where.

They already wasted it on Solyndra.

I'm sure this administration would find something,..... ^{for a small political donation}.

Get every exercise "nut" case to walk or run up a steep hill (great exercise to lose weight)
and in a group at the top sit or stand in a down hill rolling trolly or vertical "drop box"
(elevator style) which generates the electricity from the "fall" down the height.

Advertise it as a free or charity "fun run" for large groups of people who are keen on
getting fit or losing weight. Open for them all day long, so they can do it as many times
as they like, and you have a perfect "free" generating system. They exercise for free,
and generate all you need in a simple way. The "drop" (return to base) can be a relaxing
fun ride like at fairgrounds to rest and relax them for their next "uphill" run.

You then offer them the super version - where they have to pay for each "run up."
A deluxe or pro. run version for the really fit or "good" at it. You now have a power generating
system which also pays for itself. All the overheads, etc. plus free juice!

If there's no hill - make a climbing frame and get all the rock climbers going up 200ft
to come down in the power generating elevator. Where there's a will...

It's so cunning you could pin a tail on it.

For ideas - jt.

I told my boss, "3 companies are after me and I need a big raise, if I'm to stay at my job."

Surprised he asked me which companies were interested?

The Gas, electic and cable companies," I replied.

The real trick here would be in persuading the 'volunteers' to carry the drop box back up the hill.

Or I suppose you could power it with fossil fuels for the climb back to the top.

The real trick here would be in persuading the 'volunteers' to carry the drop box back up the hill.
Volunteers?? These are customers who will pay for the privilege!

what you mean by "those machines" - why dont you compute the kWh output and make a calculation of profitability - althoug if there was a cheap gizmo to net everything - the sum of such bits might be impressive ...

The next question is "for the bike" maybe adding "gears to increase not only speed but also the out put and resistance.

I work out at my company gym and we have units made by "LifeFitness" which do just that. After 25 minutes on the eliptical, I generate enough power for 60 mins. 60 mins of what I am not sure, but that is what they state. Certainly the RPM factor is critical. I have found it needs to be kept above 50rpm for my value of 60 mins. to be achieved. In short, it is already being done. Regards!

During WWII, transmitters were run by muscle power. My first thought is a hand cranked generator... which later became (possibly post war) bicycle powered. These were used by such people as the coast watchers. There was no electricity so they used what they had... muscle power.

Of course they could only run the radio. There was no way they could run lights etc.

Bill

Some of the machines I work out on at my local gym do display how much watts I am producing. Additionally, the machine also displays how many calories, heart rate, rpm's etc...

What I don't see yet are affordable higher efficiency (>14%) thermoelectric thin-films to harvest body heat into electricity and give feedback on how much heat is being expelled.

Additional energy could eventually be harvested from salt expelled from the body into a hydrated salt-free membrane and provide feedback on the quantities and types of salts released. This may be a full body suit because different parts of the body may release different salts and in different quantities. (Too much or too little salt or not enough of the right type per area may be an indication of an underlying health problem???)

It has been a life long philosophy of mine that if you want me to exercise hard enough to break a sweat, it will cost you minimum of $10 per hours under the table.

More if I have to use my brain!

Made a good living that way...