Adam Boesel is more of a teacher than a personal trainer, more of a learn-as-you-go business owner than a gym manager. And when it comes to a greener society, he is more of a fine-line pragmatist than a dewy-eyed hopeful. “There are two kinds of people in the world right now,” he says. “Those that care about saving energy, and those who don’t.” While he believes most of his peers—fellow gym owners—fall into the latter group, he is tailoring his Portland, Oregon business for the former.

The Green Microgym [GMG] began as a one of those sky-is-blue obvious ideas that, when shared aloud, usually evokes an easy, “Oh yeah, absolutely. I’ve thought the same thing.” Or, “I know—a no-brainer, right?” Walk into to any commercial gym in any city and you will see bicycle wheels spinning in fixed positions. The idea: Saddle those wheels with resistors and a method of storage and you would be literally charging a battery rather than draining another energy source.

It’s the same, unsophisticated science you demonstrated in middle school as you turned the crank of a handheld generator to light a tiny bulb. But it’s a lesson lost on most fitness facilities as the exercisers’ legs pump the bike pedals and the wheels rotate. The kinetic energy is exhausted and forgotten; frittered away as impotent heat from the friction and little more.

Through trials, errors, Internet searches and rudimentary iterations, Boesel created a functional harness that converted that kinetic energy to electrical power. A small plastic wheel rides against the spin bike’s metal disc, turning the generator. As resistance is increased, the wattage produced by the exerciser spikes. That power is stored in batteries used to run the gym’s sound system and other small electrical needs.

Working as a teacher in Washington state until 2003, and then turning a zeal for fitness into a job as a personal trainer at a large fitness center, Boesel, 38, was not yet satisfied with his career path. “I realized that if I wanted to retire doing that, I needed to also own my own gym,” he says.

He knew he’d need a gym that could distinguish itself. Like any fledging company, there needs to be an identifying quality that can draw customers. “Really, what I needed was a niche,” he says. When first thinking of greening a gym, organic materials and equipment immediately came to mind, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough of a differentiator.

The “niche” he seeks isn’t as finite and pegged as it used to be. The “Green” tag is now as much a part of the marketing toolbox as is “Low Priced,” or “Limited Time Only,” and has made a well-documented advance into the business mainstream.

The built-in green niche in Portland and a prototype generator gave Boesel a good start, but he needed capital. Even after finding a property and discussing specific improvements with an eager landlord, he struggled to find financing.

The loan proved to be the highest hurdle for Boesel, as the summer of 2008 will be remembered as a before-and-after moment in the world’s economy. Credit was bone dry for well-established businesses, let alone new entrepreneurs, who were stiff-armed by lenders if not ignored altogether. Fortunately, he quickly found, “Portland is actually a relatively small town when it comes to the business community.” Small business advocate groups such as the Oregon Entrepreneurial Network and Microenterprise Services of Oregon brokered valuable relationships that eventually led to small lines of credit for GMG. These groups helped Boesel find the right financing and continue to aid him today as the credit market ebbs with an unpredictable tide.

Any entrepreneur keeps a careful eye on start-up costs, and in these credit-barren times, Boesel was especially conscious. Much of the financial burden was shouldered by personal credit cards, which dictated his equipment search as much as the green ethos. It is, of course, less eco-impacting to use recycled materials when building and furnishing a retail space than using those that are newly manufactured. This is why Boesel’s gym has recycled rubber and corkboard flooring. But in order to have the least impact on the overall environment, it is always best to find what has already been through the manufacturing process. The equipment he sought was pre-owned and purchased at a significant discount compared to buying brand new. Boesel likens this idea to buying a certified used car with 20k miles instead of one right off the line. “It’s essentially the same,” he says, “if you do your research to make sure you’re getting a quality one that’s been taken care of.” It is clear he has been diligent when looking at the various machines and equipment. All are in great condition, and he has carefully chosen name brands that provide the industry’s best performance.

“My philosophy,” he explains, “is not to create an exclusive, high-end gym where people are paying a lot extra because they’re quote-unquote green. And that’s important to me.”

As a human-powered gym, it was easy to get press coverage. Before he had opened the doors, Boesel had discussed his endeavor of pumping watts while pumping iron with major news outlets, both national and global. The L.A. Times, CNN and the BBC all rushed to hear about the new concept of energy harvesting, taking energy from one source and applying it to another.

The CNN piece did offer criticism, though, as well as kudos. Many experts have drawn attention to the diminutive amount of energy actually generated; certainly the flaw in human-power technology. The Green Microgym and other businesses’ attempts to collect energy from everyday motion have been dismissed as statement-making rather than business acumen, and their efforts decried as nothing more than a good marketing tool.

Boesel knows its shortcomings, and is eager to make it clear he has “no illusions that we’re going to have a lot of human power plants… Humans can generate what they generate, which is usually between 50 and 100 watts.” He is quick to put captured energy in perspective, but as he explains—if a 100-watt solar panel costs $500, then people-power isn’t so negligible.

Of course, local papers and universities also kept Boesel’s phone ringing, and he credits that media interest with connecting him to many people he would not have been able to reach otherwise. “It’s a great story,” he says. “I don’t know if it’s gotten me that many memberships…but it’s got me thinking, ‘What if we franchise?’”

Franchising is only one part of the Boesel’s GMG business plan, as he hopes to consult others on greening their existing facility, and expanding the concept of the “microgym”.

For now, his focus is a more immediate goal: To be completely power-neutral. Boesel hopes for his business to be a zero-sum energy consumer, though he describes it as a “really lofty” target, especially when thinking of only human power. To generate as much energy as it uses, the number of members would need to be close to 300. Right now, that number is just under 150, having retreated from a peak of 200 as Portland suffers the nations second-highest unemployment rate.

The most realistic agent in achieving that golden fleece, Boesel believes, is not human-power, but solar-power. On the exterior of GMG hang two solar panels, blending in as awnings. Each is fifteen- to twenty-feet long and almost four-feet wide, and together, in the early spring months, they generate nearly 8KW-hours a day. According to Boesel, the gym uses 25KW-hours a day. To make up the difference—to produce as much electricity as it draws—GMG will “still have to get more efficient somehow,” he says, adding, “At some point, it’ll happen. I surely think in the spring and summer it will because the solar panels will probably take care of [the difference] on their own.”

The frugal, almost miserly, approach to energy is the real innovation at The Green Microgym. It’s the energy being conserved, not generated, that Boesel would rather see touted by the press and green-minded members.

As a staff member at a typical commercial gym, he recalls arriving at 5:30 in the morning and turning on all the overhead lights, machines, television sets and computers in preparation for sunrise exercisers. Even when he was the only one in the gym, the employer protocol required all of the equipment to be at its full electrical tilt.

The Microgym, in contrast, stays quiet when not being used. Boesel calls a workout at GMG an “experiential education in energy.” The lights and fans are controlled by the members, and independently wired so that if only one person is working out, one light can be used, and one fan can run if needed.

In the middle of the day, only the windows light GMG. There is no white humming of industrial lamp fixtures, just the sound of exercise machines in use. Above an elliptical machine, a single fan may turn while the other three remain still. There are no showers fed by energy-gluttonous water heaters, and no parking lot to encourage would-be drivers.

When the TVs are off, they are all the way off—that is, essentially unplugged. Boesel discovered that even when switched off or in sleep mode, the cable boxes and televisions will continue to squander 27 watts—nearly as many as a member will generate on the spin bike.

The Green Microgym creates a setting in which nothing is saved at the expense of practicality or function. As Boesel explains the mindset, “We don’t want to be hippies living in the woods and making weights out of trees.” He likes the hi-definition television and certain other luxuries, and he doesn’t see the need to cut them in the name of “green”.

Boesel sees no need to forego your exercise routine to save resources, and he doesn’t plan on forfeiting membership, either. “Anyone who wants to come in and just do their thing, watch hi-definition TV, and be independent—that’s what we’re set up for,” he says. He makes it a point to inform potential members and the curious public that his gym is at once “fundamentally the same, but fundamentally different.” You can get the same quality, intense workout at GMG as any bigger fitness center. “You don’t have to make any sacrifices exercising at The Green Microgym,” boasts Boesel. “Now, we’re different because there aren’t any showers and there aren’t as many amenities, but a lot of people don’t shower when they’re at a gym.” He sees steaming locker rooms as an insignificant convenience that wastes energy and elevates costs.

“You have two choices,” he says. “You can waste energy or you can not waste energy. It’s something the average person can participate in by doing what they normally do anyway, which is getting exercise… every little bit helps.”

From the small staff that won’t push expensive supplements, to the local art that hangs on the walls, this gym is a pole apart.

According to the members, the biggest lure of GMG is that this gym is convenient and has an intimate feel, and in nearly everyway is opposite from its corporate counterparts. Perhaps surprisingly, only in a distant third place do you hear the reduced environmental impact.

Under the current promotion “Burn and Earn,” when an hour is logged on a power-generating cardio machine, one “dollar” is payable to the legs that did the work. These dollars can be used toward gym merchandise such as aluminum water bottles, or beyond the gym walls, the dollars are also accumulated as gift certificates to be used at neighboring restaurants, salons, retailers and even other gyms.

“It’s been pretty easy to run a gym because of the way I’ve set it up,” says Boesel. The way he “set it up” has a lot to do with the surrounding neighborhood, and his trust of the membership. By providing simple keycard access, and keeping relatively few regular hours onsite, he finds the gym’s members quick to provide care and upkeep.

The care of the patrons shocks him, and even as he beams and jokes, “I could leave for a week, and when I got back, someone will have taken out the trash,” he knows it’s not at all an exaggeration. Each is considerate of the facilities, and shows respect for the neighbors that use the gym after they’re finished, and for the entrepreneur that has rooted his business in their community.

Boesel has found his differentiator—his niche—and it isn’t the novelty of human-power. By embracing the community and employing an educated, considerate attitude toward an everyday activity, Boesel’s business isn’t merely statement-making. It is setting an example.

Contact The Green Microgym