( CNN ) -- If you 're the type of person who thinks working out is just a waste of energy , then a new gym developed in the UK might help change your mind . This new fitness center , situated in a city park in Hull , northeast England , not only provides a facility for local residents to get fit but also generates electricity every time the equipment is used . `` So far , the community has generated 40,000 watt hours ( 40 kilowatts ) , '' says Georgie Delaney , creative director at The Great Outdoor Gym Company . `` The goal is that a gym like this should serve a community of about 5,000 people and really people could easily make a kilowatt hour per day . So , if you times that by the amount of gyms that we could possibly install , that actually becomes quite a significant amount of energy , '' Delaney said . Read : Arab Youth turn heat up at U.N. climate conference . The company has already installed more than 350 gyms in public places around the UK -- paid for by local councils and free of charge to use for local residents -- but this is their first to convert human energy into electricity . The gym currently powers its own lighting , but the hope is that one day they will be feeding surplus energy into the national grid and reducing electricity bills . `` We truly believe that in the western world we consume too much energy both in terms of food and electricity . What we 're trying to do with the green energy gyms is give councils and communities a tool , with a facility like this , so people can actually offset their consumption of both food and electricity , '' Delaney says . The concept clearly impressed city officials in Hull . `` The aim of the council is to get more and more people active instead of sitting in their lounges watching television , '' says councilor Terry Geraghty . `` We want to get people off their [ sofas ] and get a bit active ... more and more people are getting obese , also diabetes , heart disease , not just in Hull , but in the country , '' he added . Read : Chasing down the world 's vanishing glaciers . The idea is also attracting interest from local authorities around the world , some of them in developing countries , says the company . The prototype in Hull cost around $ 100,000 to install , but there are also plans to develop a cheaper $ 32,000 model which would charge mobile phones and a larger gym ( around $ 130,000 ) where power could be fed back to the grid . Ling Ge , a research scientist at the UK 's Imperial College London , is impressed with the scheme but its price may be an issue for poorer nations . `` The conversion from the gym to the national grid could be quite costly in developing countries , '' Ling says . Instead of installing electricity-generating gyms in countries in Africa , for example , it might be cheaper to use alternatives such as solar heating , solar power cells or hydroelectric power stations , she says . `` But still , it 's a really beautiful concept and it uses existing technology in a novel way , '' Ling said . `` I think it 's an excellent way to educate people about the concept of sustainability and changing people 's behavior without putting the 's ' word in your face . ''
Gym which generates electricity from workouts installed in the city . The Great Outdoor Gym Company say the community has generated around 40,000 watt electricity so far . UK company The idea has attracted interest from local authorities around the world . UK - based companies say gym is ` ` a really beautiful concept and it uses existing technology in a novel way ''