My latest million-dollar idea

[chucklemagne]

This one's about a gym where the exercise equipment generates power which can be sold back through the power grid to the power companies. You offer your members a discount on their monthly membership fees based on the amount of power they've generated (leaving yourself a margin of profit, of course). So your members are very effectively motivated

Comments

[cheeseboy]

Cool idea. I'd think that before the power got sold back to the power company, it'd be used to run the gym facilities (and then whatever is left could be sold to the grid).

Some of the exercise bicycles generate their own power to run the electronics that show how many calories you've burned, etc.

[chucklemagne]

Definitely.
The exercycle we have does that, and I know a bike can provide enough energy to power a television or other small appliances. I imagine there are probably advances to be made in human-generated power, you might have to invest in some R&D first.

[drewkitty]

Could be a concept. I wonder if they generate enough power to matter.

[chucklemagne]

That's the big "if" in the whole scenario.

[cheeseboy]

At the exploratorium in SF, they have a 2 person pedal generator thing, and with toggle switches, you select which items you want to try to power. There are a couple fans, a heater, a radio, a fluorescent light, and up to 3 incandescent 100w bulbs.

There's also the wacky fitness edition Addams Family Pinball that Ken and I made for CA Extreme -- You sit on an arcade bicycle thing (leftover from a Propcycle arcade game we junked) and pedal to "generate" your flipper power. The faster you pedal, the stronger your flippers are. (Ok, so technically while you're not actually "generating" your power, you're pedaling at a speed fast enough to keep timers alive that keep relays energized to turn off load resistors on the flipper power supply) Still, it's pretty cool. If you want, I can find some video of it online.

[chucklemagne]

I remember playing that.

[ashi]

That would be very cool if it worked. I went to a health club for a few months but had no motivation to pay just go to and exercise.

Bicycling has been my most successful form of exercise, because I get to nearby places reasonably quickly, can often park more easily than I can with a car (especially when I used to live downtown), save on gas, and have fun. When I worked at Auspex in Santa Clara, I would pass cars a lot of the way too.

Earning money would likely be a good incentive.