By Madelyn Lipszyc

You can now add humans to the list of emerging green energy sources. The concept of using human movement and converting it into kinetic energy is taking the world by storm. From Hong Kong to New York City, architects, engineers, designers and businesspeople are taking advantage of the body's energy and harvesting it to power electronics, lighting fixtures, and other power-hungry devices in their gyms.

Gym members at California Fitness in Hong Kong, and Adam Boesel's Green Microgyms in Seattle and Portland, can sweat on stationary bicycles. The energy created is stored and then used to power televisions, lights, and eventually, the owners hope, to power their entire gyms.

A typical treadmill is one of the most energy-consuming appliances, using between 1500 and 3000 watts. It seems like it would be better for the environment if we were to take a watt-free walk around the block a few times. However, motivation can be a problem for some, and the answer does not necessarily have to lie in the social factor of a community gym (that uses more power than a nearby doctor's office). Many gyms are open all night and the machines waste energy just by being plugged in. The human-powered gym, developed first by Lucien Gambarota of France, allows gym enthusiasts to get the work-out they know and love, in an environmentally friendly way by returning the energy they use.

One person cannot generate that much power on a bike, but since spinning classes have become very popular, it is useful to store power created from these machines and, at the very least, have green-powered appliances at the gym. Once the technology becomes more developed, it can be applied to all the exercise machines, and will capture energy in the most efficient way. Nevertheless, it's a great start!

In 2005, architect Mitchell Joachim and personal trainer, Douglas Joachim, invented a design called the "Human-Powered Floating Gym." It is a boat with onboard bikes that travels along the rivers of New York City with 15 program loops. It was designed to tackle commuter and health needs, and garnered a third place victory in New York Magazine's "Create a Gym" competition. It has not actually been established yet, but is an interesting design for what will be a more human-powered future.

The human energy concept is doing well with athletes, but can actually extend far beyond exercise. Bar Surya is the first eco-nightclub in Britain. It is run on sun and wind power, and its dance floor generates electricity from the movement of people's feet. People who walk or cycle there get free entrance, and all who enter must sign a pledge vowing that they will work towards curbing global warming. Excess energy will be donated to surrounding residents. There is also the Sustainable Dance Club in the Netherlands which claims that Surya is not fully eco-friendly. They sell eco dance floors and are wholeheartedly committed to saving the environment.

In addition to green dance floor aficionados, Tokyo is also using piezoelectricity in its subway systems. The East Japan Railway Company will use the power generated by its users' footsteps to power entrance gates and display screens. Piezoelectricity can be applied virtually any place people walk, because it is created from the crystals and ceramics in the floor, which, when squeezed, can generate electricity.

The aforementioned ideas offer a green solution to our energy usage problems. The world has a history of using dirty chemicals to obtain the energy we need, and often waste. Humans are also facing an obesity epidemic, and so what better way to combat our corpulence and bad-energy usage? Motivate yourself with a self-powered work-out and avert harmful emissions today!