Palm | Kelapa Sawit

By Amy Padilla

So many of us hit the gym a couple days a week and think nothing of it. We are constantly exploring different ways to create energy such as solar and wind. However, Oregon State University in the growing city of Corvallis, Oregon has found a way to harness some of that energy we are generating as we sweat our lunch off on an elliptical exercise machine. They have taken 22 of their elliptical exercise machines and fitted them with the ability to take that energy and send it back into their university power grid. Although 22 doesn't sound like a high number it is the largest installation of this test throughout the world. These 22 machines are estimated to generate enough kilowatt hours to power a small energy efficient home. Imagine what we could accomplish if this was to become commonplace in gyms across the world.

The company that created the tool to capture this energy is called ReRev.com out of Florida. They are currently working with other organizations to do the same thing such as The University of Florida and Gainesville Health and Fitness. With any luck at all this will be something that we can see pop up at other gyms throughout the world. ReRev.com is currently looking at gyms in Las Vegas and Miami and says it's ready to push this product out to all that want to use it.

On a personal basis I feel great that something I am doing on a regular basis could also be doing something good for our environment and our energy issues. Maybe we should start asking gyms before joining if they are looking at the ReRev.com ReCardio system for any of their machines. The buzz word is 'sustainability' and this is an excellent way to capture a very wasted resource. Now if we could just figure out what to do with all the sweat.

Check out http://rerev.com/for more company information or to read more about them in the news and the return on investment for their product check out this Popular Science article. Click Here to read.