Asa Fix
News Reporter

Mesa State was the first and is the only college in the State of Colorado with ReRev technology. Currently there are eight machines that use this alternative energy technology at the Hamilton Recreation Center.
ReRev retrofits electric gym equipment to use alternative energy in a safe, carbon-neutral and healthy manner. The kinetic motion of aerobic exercise is captured in an efficient and cost effective way to convert wasted energy into productive renewable energy that feeds back into the building’s electrical system. The machines that use ReRev right now aren’t enough to cut the electric bill for the building, but they do help.
By the end of the summer or early next fall the plan is to have 40 to 50 machines running off of ReRev. Michael Wells, director of campus recreation services and athletic facilities, said once the rec center gets the 40 or so machines it will take a pretty significant chunk out of their energy needs.
“The campus is about being as green as possible and not leaving as big of a foot print behind, and this is the rec center’s way of doing their part,” Wells said. “We will never be able to pay for the energy cost to run this building but we will be able to cut it down a lot.”
Wells brought the idea of making ReRev a part of the new recreation center when it was being built after he saw it on the news. Another college was using the technology. He thought it would be a great fit here at MSC so he did some research on the company and then after a few phone calls and meetings they came out and started working on the project.
“People are excited because they’re going to burn energy working out over here that will also save energy, which feeds back into the building’s electrical system,” Wells said.
An elliptical machine in regular use at the Hamilton Recreation Center using ReRev technology will generate one kilowatt-hour of electricity every two days. That amount of energy is equivalent to the energy needed to power a laptop for 24 hours or use a vacuum cleaner for 45 minutes.
A few other cool facts are that in a typical 30 minute workout you produce 50 watt hours of clean, carbon free electricity. That is enough energy to run a Carbon Fiber Light Bulb for two hours and 30 minutes, a laptop for an hour, a desktop computer for 30 minutes, and charge a cell phone six times. The adoption of ReRev says a lot about where the college is going.
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ajfix@mesastate.edu