SportsArt Fitness added to its reputation for offering green products by launching its Green System at the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) show last week in San Francisco.
The Green System is a “pod” of fitness products attached to an inverter that harnesses human-generated power from exercisers and feeds it back into the power grid as usable energy. The system was shown for the first time to exclusive guests within a private showroom at SportsArt Fitness’ booth.
The power inverter attached to the Green System is about the size of a stereo receiver and has a regular 240VAC plug, says Bob Baumgartner, product manager for SportsArt Fitness, Woodinville, WA.
“To operate the system, a person would simply plug it into a 240VAC outlet and start exercising,” he says. “Each pod can generate up to 2,000 watts per hour during full use. A typical health club that replaces all of its ellipticals and cycles with Green Systems could see savings of over $3,000 per year on electricity bills.”
This line of products joins SportsArt Fitness’ other green products. The company’s Eco-Powr treadmill, introduced five years ago, uses 32 percent less energy than a traditional club treadmill. Additionally, SportsArt’s completely self-generated ellipticals and cycles require no outside power source to operate.
“To me, the interesting thing is that the whole project goes in one line,” says Baumgartner. “First, we had treadmills that helped save power. The innovations that went into that were applied and extended to the Green System we have now. It’s a strength in our R&D that is being applied more thoroughly to bring something greater to the market.”
Ken Carpenter, director of sales for SportsArt Fitness, adds, “The combination of our Eco-Powr treadmill motors and our Green System ellipticals and cycles will save facilities thousands in energy costs. We welcome the entire industry to become more eco-conscience as we will continue to invest heavily into this crucial green initiative.”
SportsArt’s Green System will hit the market in mid-2011 and will be sold in pods of up to six products per inverter.