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Of course this is happening in Oregon – Ashland, in the southern part of the state, to be exact. The employees who work at least 1000 hours in a year at Standing Stone Brewing Co., a restaurant, get custom-fitted, 24-speed Kona bikes to ride to and from work, courtesy of the business’s owners.

Perhaps sometime soon, new technology will harness residual energy from the bikes, or employees’ shoes, to help run some kitchen equipment at the restaurant as well?

The Student Environmental Board at the University of Kansas reportedly has paid $15,000 to install 15 elliptical workout machines and the student fitness center. The trainers are expected to 10 kilowatts of energy per day. 

New rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency require a 35 percent reduction in emissions from new lawn and garden equipment, starting in 2011. This might revolutionize the environmental impact of lawn care, as it is expected to save 190 million gallons of gasoline per year, while enabling gardeners (like me) to burn off 400 calories per hour while not annoying the neighbors with a softer, almost inaudible sound. Read all about the benefits and get some tips here. Reel mowers are the original green garden exercise, and a return to simplicity that makes so much more sense than gas mowers in a modern world.

Among the contestants in GreenerGadgets 2009 Design Competition (the second annual), is the Wind-Helmet designed by Wai Hoong Leng of Malaysia. Wind-Helmet integrates a small wind turbine recharger into the safety helmet, allowing the cyclist to carry fewer portable devices while at the same time providing a means for recharging their portable digital products (such as mobile phone, digital camera, MP3 player) while on the move. Not unlike the cigarette lighter-recharger function in cars, but much, much greener.

Unveiled at a Tokyo gadgets show in October 2008, the CYLEC electricity generating exercise bike uses a dynamo type generator that can be used to power electronic household appliances. See CYLEC electricity generating exercise bike  The bike model used is itself a little wobbly, but that can be fixed in five minutes.

While they don’t generate electricity to add back to the grid, the 1-2-3 Fit gym in Ridgeland, Mississippi at least doesn’t take anything from it. ”None of the machines are electric,” gym owner Penny Fahey told MCHerald.com in Madison County. “It’s your body doing all the work.” Read more about it.

It costs $595, but a “Bike Power Generator” from  Windstream Power (”Innovations in renewable energy since 1974″) is something an at-home indoor bike trainer enthusiast will understand. The cyclist mounts his bike to a frame while the rear tire turns a friction drum, generating electricity that is either stored in a battery or can be used to power direct-current (DC) appliances (e.g., water pumps) or converted to alternating current (AC) with a DC to AC inverter.  The e-commerce site provides all the details. It is one of the most straight forward ways available to turn bike exercise into electricity for the home.

Read about this futuristic vision of a step device called mPower, not unlike some equipment seen in cardio rooms of many gyms, where the inventor envisions volunteer human-generators adding electricity back to the grid with standing pedal power. The idea is to station the devices where people might otherwise be just standing around: bus stops, airports, libraries, community parks, common areas of multi-unit buildings, gyms.

The revolving door in the Driebergen-Zeist railway station features a capacitor bank that illuninates LED lights in its ceiling. Yet bloggers on this site debate the laziness of pedestrians who avoid the more-work-required revolving doors for energy-wasting hinged doors.

The manufacturer (Royal Boon Edam Group Holding) says on its website, “an energy saving of around 4600 kWh per year, a considerable saving compared to a conventional sliding entrance.” This site provides more technical information on how it works.

A benefactor’s donation of a $1500 system (ReCardio, from ReRev) that converts workout energy into electricity has produced 300 kilowatt hours of electricity in the Fall 2008 semester at the University of Florida’s Southwest Recreation Center.  Four more machines will be installed for the Spring 2009 semester.  Read more here …