Brown University’s gym recently installed machines that turn kinetic energy into electricity. Could these machines put a dent in our energy needs?
Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
Today, we’re looking into a question from a listener. Dan wants to know- could you create a gym where bikes and rowing machines generate electricity to feed the grid?
We had Emma Mejia and Isha Thakkar from our Possibly team look into this question
Emma Mejia: Hey Megan!
Isha Thakkar: Hi!
Megan Hall: So can we get usable energy from human exercise?
Emma Mejia: That’s a great question. We actually met up with someone who wondered the same thing.
Elina Pipa: My name is Elina Pipa. I’m a junior at Brown University.
Isha Thakkar: Last year, Elina was taking an environmental studies class that’s taught by Possibly’s founder, Stephen Porder.
Emma Mejia: For her final assignment, she had to write a proposal for a realistic climate solution and She found some exercise machines that can be used to create electricity.
Isha Thakkar: It made her wonder, what if we could use those machines to help power the Brown University gym?
Elina Pipa: and I thought it’d be a really great idea to pitch it.
Emma Mejia: For her pitch, Elina tracked down affordable versions of these machines.
Isha Thakkar: Stephen liked the idea so much, he helped her work with Brown University’s Gym to make it happen.
Emma Mejia: A year later, they installed six of the machines at the gym.
Megan Hall: How do they work?
Emma Mejia: We asked Elina the same thing,
Elina Pipa: Basically, as you use the machines, your kinetic energy is transformed into electricity that can be used to power appliances in the building.
Emma Mejia: Kinetic energy is just energy in the form of motion – so we make it when we exercise.
Megan Hall: How much energy can these machines actually make?
Isha Thakkar: To find out, we did a little experiment.
Emma Mejia: So I’m currently at the gym and I’m going to see how much energy I can produce in a 30-minute workout.
Emma Mejia: After 30 minutes of walking, I created about 80 watt hours of electricity.
Megan Hall: Is that a lot?
Isha Thakkar: Well, that half hour workout would be able to power an LED light bulb for about 6 hours
Emma Mejia: Other appliances use much more energy. That workout would only keep your fridge going for about 15 minutes.
Megan Hall: That means an individual workout won’t do much when it comes to creating renewable energy?
Emma Mejia: Maybe not, but if we take a step out and look at this on a larger scale we get a different picture.
Isha Thakkar: Let’s do some math!
Emma Mejia: First, let’s assume the average person creates 100 Watt hours of energy in a half hour work-out.
Isha Thakkar: And let’s assume there are 50 machines in the gym, and that each one is used about 6 hours a day.
Emma Mejia: If you crunch those numbers, you get about 60 kilowatt hours per day.
Megan Hall: Is that a lot?
Emma Mejia: Depends how you look at it. It’s about what 2 average Rhode Island homes use each day, but it’s only 1% of what the gym uses!
Isha Thakkar: On the other hand, it’s around the same amount of energy the gym gets from the solar panels on its roof.
Megan Hall: I guess that’s something! So, what’s the answer to our listener’s question? Can we use human power to create energy?
Emma Mejia: Yes, we can use cardio machines that turn energy from our workouts into electricity.
Isha Thakkar: But unless we all work out a LOT more, it’s nowhere close to powering an entire gym.
Megan Hall: Got it. Thanks Emma and Isha. That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to askpossibly.org.. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
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Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.
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