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Using Gym Rats' Body Power to Generate Electricity

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the other-biodiesel-generators dept.

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "A Hong Kong health club is hoping that a car battery, some StairMasters and dozens of gym rats can help ease the world's energy problems. It is just one of a wave of projects that are trying to tap the power of the human body, the Wall Street Journal reports. The article explains the impetus behind the project: 'The human power project at California Fitness was set in motion by Doug Woodring, a 41-year-old extreme-sports fanatic and renewable-energy entrepreneur, who pitched the experiment to the gym's management last May. "I've trained my whole life, and many megawatts have been wasted," says Mr. Woodring, who has worked out at the Hong Kong gym for years. "I wanted to do something with all that sweat."'"

18 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. can they also make a contraption... by tuxette · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...that will collect the energy generated by all the jiggling rings of fat you see on most people these days?

    --
    People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
    1. Re:can they also make a contraption... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Fat is stored energy. What you need to do is pay them for liposuction, like buying oil drilling rights.
      it would give a whole new meaning to the phrase "fat farm".

    2. Re:can they also make a contraption... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      These people should be able to fuel their own car with their immense amounts of body fat. Ok, they'd have to drive a few extra hundred miles every day, so the car wouldn't overflow, but it'd be great and also solve the USA's dependence on foreign oil.

      Why grow alternative fuels on farms, when McDonald's and friends are already providing as much fat as we'll ever want?

    3. Re:can they also make a contraption... by jambox · · Score: 5, Funny

      Just wait for them to have a heart attack, then attach a turbine to the crematorium... Come on, it's better than coal!

      --
      You thought you could break the laws of physics without paying the PRICE?
  2. I can't wait... by FredDC · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... to see the guy on the threadmill yelling at the guy on the stairmaster to "go faster!"

    --
    09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63
  3. Schwarzenegger beat them to it by giminy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ahnald was already doing this in the 1970s. In his excellent movie _Hercules in New York_, he threw a lightning bolt in one scene. I believe he wasn't wearing a shirt. I also believe the lightning bolt was actually a grounding rod, bent into a jagged, vaguely lightning bolt shape. See, you have shirtless bodybuilder, lightning bolts, and grounding rods. Truly Ahnald was a man ahead of his time.

    Ahnald, you've come a long way...baby.

    --
    The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
  4. "I wanted to do something with all that sweat." by lysergic.acid · · Score: 2, Funny

    make a gym sweat cologne. now you can tell people you just got back from the gym even if you haven't!

    1. Re:"I wanted to do something with all that sweat." by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Funny

      you could always make a sports drink...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  5. Ob. Simpsons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    "A 'guyme'? What's a 'guyme'?

    [Homer walks into the Gym.]

    "Oooh! A 'Guyme!'"

    I suspect most slashdotters have never seen the inside of a gym, let alone know what it is.

    1. Re:Ob. Simpsons by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 2, Funny

      I suspect most slashdotters have never seen the inside of a gym, let alone know what it is.

      I've seen it. It's full of sweaty, unhappy looking people in awkward clothing. You're better off going for a walk instead.
      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
  6. The Stupid! It Burns! by SQL+Error · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I've trained my whole life, and many megawatts have been wasted," says Mr. Woodring, who has worked out at the Hong Kong gym for years.
    Spending one of those years in science class might not have been a bad idea.
  7. Only one Matrix reference in 25 comments? by Alex+Belits · · Score: 2, Funny

    What the world is coming to?

    --
    Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
  8. Walt Disney never pictured this by Spacezilla · · Score: 5, Funny

    Morpheus: What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep you under control in order to change a mouse into this.
    [holds up a Duracell battery]
    Mickey Mouse:: No, I don't believe it. It's not possible!
    Morpheus:: I didn't say it would be easy, Mickey. I just said it would be the truth.

  9. Re:Inefficient use of human body by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Yes. Try generating 200W of electrical power with your body, and see how long you can keep it up.

    Hey whippersnapper, I can keep it up just fine.

  10. I've got a better idea by capn_buzzcut · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let's harness the energy generated by having sex. Or even better, the energy wasted by my pathetic attempts to get laid in the first place, which there is sadly a lot more of.

    --
    "And now, Frank N. Furter, your time has come. Say 'goodbye' to all of this, and 'hello'... to oblivion!"
  11. Re:Are you working on the assumption by ettlz · · Score: 2, Funny

    GP said "threadmill". I interpret this to mean one of those new-fangled multi-threaded SPARC processors from Sun; then again, I hear they're supposed to be very energy-efficient, so I guess the guy yelling faster must be either just greedy or running Vista under emulation.

  12. Gilligan's Island? by proxy318 · · Score: 2, Funny

    The professor was able to generate electricity with a couple of coconuts and a stationary bike, how hard could this be?

    --
    Saying your "phone ran out of batteries" is like saying your "car ran out of gas tanks".
  13. Re:typical ignorant comment by brer_rabbit · · Score: 2, Funny
    Yeah, a heterosexual can choose not to have sex at all, either.

    With a name like "Beardo the Bearded", it may not be a choice.