Let the exercising begin! Students at Tennessee Tech University power their gym thanks to Green System equipment from SportArt Fitness. An equally energetic bunch of students at Chapman University will try to match the output of those from TTU.
SportsArt Fitness, a manufacturer of cardio and strength products, has introduced its Green System that lets facility owners offset energy costs by feeding utility-grade electricity back into the grid. The system consists of a collection of up to 10 cardio units connected to an inverter that is hard-wired into the building’s electrical system. As users exercise, the energy they produce is harnessed and fed back into the grid to offset power consumption within the building.
“The power inverter attached to the Green System is about the size of a stereo receiver and has a 208 to 240 Vac plug that must be wired to the grid for safety,” says SportsArt Fitness Senior Product Manager Anita Miller. “To operate the system, a person would simply start exercising. A booster box connected to each cardio machine harnesses the energy expended by the exerciser and funnels it to the inverter which converts it into electricity.”
SportsArt builds a line of self-generating ellipticals and cycles that require no outside power to operate.
The company says its Green System inverter converts up to 75% of the energy generated by exercisers into useable power. Output is maximized with more cardio machines linked to one inverter. Up to 10 machines can be linked to one inverter, which has the capacity to convert up to 2,000 human watts per hour into utility-grade energy. Depending on how many groups of Green System Products a facility has installed, the energy cost savings can be significant.
SportsArt also offers a complete line of self-generating ellipticals and cycles that require no outside power to operate. “The combination of our ECO-POWR treadmill motors and Green System ellipticals and cycles can save facilities thousands in energy costs,” says company Director of Sales Ken Carpenter.
The world’s first Kilowatt Throwdown pits two universities – Tennessee Tech University and Chapman University in a contest between the schools to see which can produce the most power for the grid by using the SportsArt Fitness Green System gym equipment installed at their schools. The contest runs for a month, from February 15 to March 15. The energy-output contest is handicapped because TTU has 17 pieces of equipment with their Green System and Chapman University has 10. The winning school receives a $7,000 treadmill from SportsArt Fitness. EcoFit – a separate company that provides the monitoring equipment for use with the Green System – will provide the top exercisers (energy producers) with separate awards from Best Buy and Footlocker.
The Green System at both schools lets each offset energy costs by feeding utility-grade electricity back into the grid. The system consists of a collection of cardio units connected to an inverter that is hard-wired into the building’s electrical system. As users exercise, the energy they produce is harnessed and fed back into the grid to offset power consumption within the building.
SportsArt Fitness
www.sportsartamerica.com
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