Running's Spark Of Electricity

In their efforts to 'go green', our government has overlooked what might turn out to be the most environmentally healthy source of energy. The energy source that will create the most 'fit' global climate, if you will. Not solar panels, cleaner coal nor wind power. Rather, the cleanest energy source may very well come from us runners and gymgoers and can be created simply by doing what we love to do best....running and working out!

Imagine, for a second, that instead of simply running and burning up all your body's energy, you can be producing electricity at the same time that you're using up your own. Well, that is exactly was Hudson Harr's Florida technology company, ReRev.com, has been trying to accomplish for the past few years and, of late, has finally found some success. Tom Leonard's article in the Telegraph (United Kingdom) on May 18th recounted how, through Harr's technology, "University campuses and exercise clubs are making use of new green technology which allows the momentum from running and walking machines to be converted into voltage". Using a Precor elliptical as his starting point, Harr found that the machine already had a small built-in generator which powered its control panel through a person's movements whilst on the machine. Taking that generator, Harr adapted it to instead feed into the power grid and found that it "generates enough electricity to run a laptop computer for an hour, or a compact fluorescent light bulb for 2 1/2 hours".

With only a handful of local gyms across the country currently employ a form of Harr's technology, Harr is currently in discussions with many of the major gyms chains in America and is hoping many of them will eventually switch to using generators instead of alternators. Summing up the world he envisions for the future, Harr noted, "There are over 30,000 health clubs in the US. If you could figure each one producing electricity will take one house off the grid, that is 30,000 houses off the grid".

Back in medieval times, running was thought to give energy to the specific person engaged in the act. Many people who run in the mornings before heading off to employment claim that running gives them a great boost of energy for the day ahead. While they are not being literal, they each certainly do feel more energetic than they would have otherwise. Back in those medieval times, if you had told a runner that one day their running would be able to produce enough electricity to power lights, computers and the like, they may have thought you a sorcerer and sentenced you to a quick beheading. But, thanks to people like Hudson Harr, that statement once thought to be a joke has now become a reality. While there is still much work required, it is not hard to envision a world one day powered by the electricity generated from simple, quick forward motion. An electricity source that is clean, easily produced by many willing suppliers and most definitely cheaper than what we pay for it now. While today's electricity companies may charge $1 per megawatt/power, I wouldn't think of charging more than a few pence for the same amount. So, if ConEd is reading this, you better be on the look-out. This runner's powering towards you one step at a time!