TF Teesside - Gym is fit and lean - and green

27 April 2011

Teesside gym is generating all its own heat and electricity, after installing a £150,000 combined heat and power (CHP) plant.

Total Fitness, which has 20 branches nationwide, has cut its overall energy consumption by 45% in two years by installing the CHP plants and other successful energy-saving measures.

Teesside club boss Craig Saunders said the business was on a mission to green up the health and fitness sector, which is a notoriously high energy consumer.

“We have three pools, a massive hydro-pool, five heat and treatment rooms, showers and equipment, all of which cost a fortune to run,” he said. “Typically the biggest costs for gyms are maintaining the cooling systems so people can work out effectively.

 “We believe CHP systems like this should be compulsory for all gyms. We will recoup the money for the system in a few years - it’s a no-brainer.

“As a business, we are very energy conscious. The CHP system takes heat from the environment, both internally and externally and filters it to re-use to heat or cool the gym, studios and water for showers and pools.

“The only time we would use electricity from the National Grid is if there’s a fault with the system.”

He said Total Fitness was also looking into ways of generating more electricity from fitness equipment including exercise bikes and treadmills.

“We are looking at how we can use the motion from this equipment to put energy back into the business - very similar to an old bike dynamo method.”

Staff at the gym on Middlesbrough Road also turn off lights when areas are not in use and regularly monitor temperatures to keep them constant.