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Instead of running washing machines on electricity and then running on electric powered machines in gym, how about manually cycling a washing machine like this. You hit 2 birds with one stone.

Granted it's not practical in every household, but it's not a bad alternative for some.

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We need generic magnetic resistance (instead of weighted) machines charging batteries.

I've wondered, but too lazy to calculate that how much electricity could be generated by machines in gym. Probably not a lot, but the whole idea of a green gym could encourage people to work out more.

Edit : Google search shows some in practice : http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2032281...

It works for greenwashing as a marketing technique as you suspect, but the energy cost of lighting alone exceeds the energy you can produce by leg power, to say nothing of HVAC for the facility and water heater for the showers.

This is why we burn coal and uranium instead of forced prison labor to generate electricity on exercise bikes. I'm glad of that.

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