Generating Electricity from theMatchbox Equipment

The Swarthmore College Matchbox is used by hundreds of students and faculty every day. The energy expended during the activity is dissipated and never transformed into useful energy. The focus of this project will be to retrofit pre-existing gym equipment so that any expended energy can be captured and converted into electrical energy. By using non-intrusive and compact mechanisms to design the model, the project would aim to provide renewable energy sources without drastically changing the workout experience itself. The first phase will be focused on generating enough electricity to power a small device, such as a cellular device, to answer the question of whether it is plausible to get electricity from the machine. The second phase will look at scaling the project to see the effects of extending the mechanism to other equipment, which will focus on powering the Matchbox with an off-grid system. A financial and environmental impact analysis will be conducted to understand how the proposed changes will impact the implementation. By analyzing the potential transformation of the Matchbox into a green gym through capturing energy, Swarthmore College will make progress towards its goal of Zero by Thirty-Five.