GorillaOffTopic, Everything But Gorilla Trades

We’re all looking for ways to be more “green” in the US, and why not? Up until recent times, we have lived in the one of the most wasteful societies in the world. We have an obligation to be more green, and we should be ashamed of ourselves if each and every one of us doesn’t contribute something to the many new conservation efforts, which are aplenty in this country.  So why not take your exercise efforts at the gym and turn them into energy- after all, that’s exactly what you are exerting isn’t it? One clever gym owner had the same idea and decided to use it to harness more electricity for his gym. In Portland Oregon, gym owner, Adam Boesel, figured “why not take advantage of all of the energy being created by people using treadmills and bikes and put it to good use?” The eco-gym, which has treadmills equipped with energy efficient motors, will use solar and human power. “We’re just harnessing that extra energy that they put out anyway,” Boesel said. “For people, that’s a no-brainer. They say it’s there, you might as well capture it.”  The Gorilla could not agree more and although he talks about this subject quite often, it’s simply because now is the time to get with the program when it comes to harnessing energy in this country, as well as in the world. It is long overdue and there are so many innovative and clever ways to harness energy, it is just a matter of doing it!  Energy harvesting is simple really since it only involves taking energy from one source and using it for another. The gym’s bikes currently generate about up to 750 watts per hour. (Wow!) Boesel is currently working on a way to harness more energy from his elliptical trainers as well. So can it really power a 2800 square foot gym? The Gorilla was skeptical, but Boesel says that right now it is powering about 20-25% of the gym’s electricity, but he says that he plans of taking it to 100% in the next year. His plan is to be the the first completely human-powered gym in the country. Well, of course China has beaten us on this front. They currently have gyms in that country that have used this energy harnessing to power their lights and fans. The Gorilla thinks he could generate at 750 watts per hour on his bike alone!