England has a new fitness center that not only provides a workout routine for residents, but its equipment generates electricity with each use.
Georgie Delaney, creative director at The Great Outdoor Gym Company, told CNN that the gym’s members have so far generated 40 kW by exercising. "The goal is that a gym like this should serve a community of about 5,000 people and really people could easily make a kilowatt hour per day. So, if you times that by the amount of gyms that we could possibly install, that actually becomes quite a significant amount of energy," Delaney said.
The company has installed more than 350 gyms in public areas throughout the UK, funded by local councils. Facilities are free of charge for local residents. The idea is also attracting interest from local authorities around the world, some of them in developing countries, according to the company.
The operating prototype currently costs around $100,000 to install, but there are plans to develop a cheaper model that would be around $32,000. The $100,000 model can feed power back into the grid while the $32,000 energy generator could charge mobile phones.
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