Old 03-06-07, 11:47 AM
  #16  
supcom
You need a new bike
 
supcom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 5,433
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 3 Posts
Originally Posted by ModoVincere
If you are going to the effort to generate your own electricity, why in heavens name would you continue using standard lighting? I would suspect most people who have an inclination to do this would switch over to higher efficiency lighting such as Compact Flourescents or even LED based lighting. Even with the losses you mentioned, an average person could easily generate and store the power needed to light a room in a house and have power left over.

Couple that with my previous posts about using spin classes to generate the power (20-30 people 2-3 x/ day) and there would be ample power for lighting in an average gym. I think the major expense would be the storage systems.
OK, let's go with that idea. The average fluorescent light tube uses 40W. The typical fluorescent light fixture has three tubes, for a total of 120W. Go into a fitness center and count up the fixtures. I'll bet you find there are many more fixtures than exercise cycles. Being generous, we can assume that one exercise cycle will power one fixture when it's in operation. But the reality is that the average user almost certainly generates less than 120W when using the machine. But, let's not quibble. So, the 20-30 cyclists will be able to power 20-30 fixtures.

The would be no reason to waste any of the energy with a storage system. The facility will surely have much more than 20-30 light fixtures so there's not going to be any extra energy. In addition, if there were, the air conditioning system, fans, computers, music, water heaters, etc. will be happy to use it.
supcom is offline