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Staff at a southern Indiana high school are burning calories at a new school gym. But school leaders hope they'll soon
do something more: produce electricity for the workout facility.
Bloomington High School South has developed a "Calories to Kilowatts" program in which it plans to retrofit treadmills,
exercise bicycles and other equipment so that the kinetic energy produced by exercising staffers can be converted electricity.
That energy will be used to power lights and plug-in devices such as cell phones.
Supporters say the potential energy is already evident. Through February, 54 staffers combined to burn 70,000 calories in
8,900 minutes of exercise. That would have produced 81,000 watts of electricity through conversion.
Science department chairwoman Jody Duncan says she has identified a company that will do the retrofitting once the $10,000
cost is raised from outside sources.
"It would allow us to make this new gym space essentially self-sufficient in terms of energy, except for heating and
cooling," she said.
Abby Gray, chairwoman of the school's foreign language department, said the workout room has been popular with staff
from all departments.
"It's so hard for busy people anywhere to fit exercising into their day, but this is so convenient. And you get
to interact with colleagues, get a great workout and, pretty soon, have the ability to put energy back into the building,"
she said. "Even if I'm just recharging my cell phone, it's worthwhile."
The "green gym" will feature cell phone and iPod chargers by May, and the retrofitting is expected to occur soon
thereafter.
The gym's walls are already adorned with posters warning against "vampire devices" such as cell phones and
laptop computers that consume energy if plugged in even if they aren't turned on.
The east wall features a mural showing a black panther paw and the program's "Reduce, Reuse, Repower" motto.
"Eventually, the mural will include a panther with its tail going into a socket," Duncan said.
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