In May, the University of Arizona announced plans to help offset energy costs and heat the campus's two large swimming pools by adding solar electricity panels and solar hot water heaters to the roofs of several campus buildings, including its student recreation center. The University of Oregon also installed solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on its rec center roof and recently purchased gym equipment retrofitted to produce user-generated energy. The Green Microgym in Portland, OR, hosts a solar PV array, Energy Star-rated ceiling fans, as well as custom spin bikes that let members produce electricity.

As these three examples show, green building and energy efficiency projects are gaining broader mainstream attention. Forty-two percent of architects said their clients requested green building elements on their projects, according to the annual 2008 Autodesk/American Institute of Architects Green Index survey. Nearly 60 percent of those architects cited reduced operating costs as the reason behind the green building requests, while 39 percent of those surveyed are incorporating renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, in more than half of their new building designs.

Fitness facilities nationwide are engaging in green energy efforts to save money. Although the upfront costs for some energy efficiency projects may appear prohibitive, increased demand, technological advancements and leasing options are making energy efficiency projects more affordable.

In addition, as consumers become more environmentally aware, they will expect their fitness clubs to be a model of health — both for members and the environment, says Will Phillips, CEO of REX Roundtables for Club Owners.

“Through the rest of the recession is a great time for clubs to start getting on the energy bandwagon because it makes them good citizens,” he says. “Within five years, it could hurt you if you're not green because people will really notice. It will be like going to a club back in the 1950s where people could smoke. People are going to think not being green will have a similar flavor because people want to be healthy.”

Club of the Future

One fitness club that's ahead of the curve is The Green Microgym. The facility hosts a solar PV array, plus spin bikes that owner Adam Boesel retrofitted to produce energy.

In addition, the club has created a culture of energy efficiency in which members turn off TVs when they're not in use and ride their bikes to the gym. Boesel positioned his club as a green, energy-efficient facility to set it apart from other gyms.

“When I went from a personal trainer to wanting to own my own small gym, I was writing a business plan and trying to figure out how to differentiate myself from the other small gyms,” he says. “Then I came across a gym in Hong Kong that was experimenting with generating electricity that mentioned it wasn't that much of a challenge to do it. I'm the kind of person who says if I'm going to say my business is green, then I want to do it all the way.”

While other gyms may not be as green as The Green Microgym, progress is on the horizon, he says.

“I really do feel like there is potential for us to make really good headway in the next few years. We need to help educate people on energy savings instead of energy production,” Boesel says. “I get a lot of club owners contacting me, but probably 1 percent of them want to change their gym. More people want to start a new gym. Universities that call usually want to change, but that's a different story — they have different resources.”

Saving on Solar

Dennis Munroe, director of physical education and recreation at the University of Oregon, says the student-run Ecological Design Center came up with the idea for the solar panels on the rec center roof, then offered to do the fundraising. The center even designed a Web site (edc.uoregon.edu/solar) to show students how much power the array is producing in real time.

Oregon's solar panels consist of a 12-kilowatt array of 84 PV panels that have produced 56,240 kilowatt-hours of energy since their installation in January 2005. They've offset 24,126 pounds of carbon dioxide emission and saved the school $14,060 in energy costs.

“Last year we got a rebate check from the local utility for $3,000,” Munroe says. “Considering our energy budget is $150,000 to $180,000, it's really more about the educational value of having a living, learning lab for students on campus. Efficiencies of the system become more valuable all the time, and the more we do them, the more we learn and the sooner we get to where it's more economically viable.”

Although the return on investment for a solar electricity system is about eight to 10 years, according to Robert Politzer, president and CEO of GreenStreet Inc., New York, leasing options for solar arrays are becoming more widely available.

The University of Arizona worked in conjunction with an energy services provider to minimize the cost of its initial solar investment.

“The company actually maintains, owns and operates the solar panels, and the University of Arizona will purchase the energy it produces,” says Juliette Moore, director of campus recreation at the university.

By renting the solar equipment, Arizona avoided the upfront costs to purchase and install the equipment.

The model for onsite power generation is gaining popularity in the corporate world, as is the notion of green design, Politzer says.

“In many ways, we're in the relatively early stages of a green industrial revolution, though it's already quite a bit better today than it was 10 years ago. Another two to three years from now, it will be much more mainstream,” he says.

Politzer notes that after World War II, large energy-producing plants that were located miles from usage sites were the norm, but that paradigm is losing ground.

“A distributed power model where buildings produce electricity onsite — like CHP [combined heat and power] systems, solar, waste to energy, wind — this model is growing in intensity as we move forward,” Politzer says.

Energy Audits

Although it can be more cost effective to build energy-efficient systems into a new facility, green renovations also can reduce a club's energy usage. The first place to start is with an energy audit, Politzer says. An energy audit can help a fitness facility owner develop an integrated energy use strategy and point to places where efficiency can be improved.

Phillips notes that local utilities generally will do an audit for free, though they probably will be less detailed than if a club hires an energy consultant. To find an auditor, he suggests doing an Internet search for “industrial energy audits.”

Chelsea Piers in New York City scheduled a comprehensive energy audit of its entire complex before deciding late last year to purchase all of its energy as renewable wind energy, says Erica Schietinger, vice president of corporate communications with Chelsea Piers Management. The club also invested in energy-efficient lighting by replacing 690 light fixtures with high-pressure sodium fixtures at a cost of $200,000.

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