Human hamsters

Students who have been using the elliptical trainers in the new Student Rec Center have also been powering the electricity in the building, thanks to a new system called ReRev.

A 30-minute workout on a machine can produce up to 50 watts of electricity, which is tapped into the building’s electrical system. A student can produce enough energy via the elliptical to create 50 watts of environmentally clean electricity, according to the flyer that hangs near the row of elliptical trainers.

In other words, a student can produce enough electricity during their 30-minute elliptical workout to run “a CFL light bulb for 2 hours and 30 minutes, a cell phone charger for 6 full charges, power a laptop for one hour, or run a desktop computer for 30 minutes,” according to the flyer.

According to Alex Accetta, director of Campus Rec, students are really taking advantage of the new facility.

“I knew the first day there would be lots of people,” he said. “And then like a month into it, you keep expecting them not to show up, and they keep showing up.”

Although he has not recently checked, Accetta said that at one point the new facility was approaching 13,000 student members.

“I’m blown away by some of the numbers of people using our climbing wall,” he said. “We have something like 1,000 students that have gotten [their] climbing wall certification. And that’s huge.”

At its previous location, in the Peter Stott Center, Campus Rec was lucky to have 200 with climbing certificates, Accetta said.

In order to use the ASRC facilities, students need a valid student I.D. and must pay a fee of $41 per term. A majority of the fees go toward payment for the construction of the building.

“We’re going to basically pay a mortgage for 30 years,” he said. “The remainder of that money goes towards utilities and custodial fees. Anything else will go toward long-term reserves.”

Long-term reserves will go towards replacing equipment in the future.

Though the overall reactions to the ASRC have been positive, Accetta said that it has faced a few setbacks. For example, some student members were disgruntled about the size of the lockers at the ASRC in comparison with those at the Stott Center.

However, though the lockers cannot be fixed, other improvements are being acknowledged and fixed.

 “We’ve been reflecting on some of the things we have gotten wrong, or are trying to do better,” Accetta said.