Gym energy consumption: the share your equipment controls

Gym equipment is a declared energy line in its own right, and it is the one a purchasing decision changes fastest. In France, the tertiary decree (decree no. 2019-771 of 23 July 2019) requires buildings with 1,000 m2 or more of tertiary floor area to cut final energy consumption by 40% by 2030, 50% by 2040 and 60% by 2050, against a reference year no earlier than 2010. Sport is named explicitly, with a sub-category for individual practice rooms defined by the presence of cardio and strength machines. Two levers act directly on that line: removing standby consumption, and replacing motor-driven machines with self-powered ones whose running consumption is zero by design.

Which sites are covered, and on what perimeter

The threshold is 1,000 m2 of cumulative tertiary floor area on a single site. This is where operators are caught out: it is assessed across all tertiary activities in the building, not on the gym alone. A 700 m2 club inside a larger mixed-use building that passes the threshold is covered.

The order of 13 April 2022 set the activity categories. Sport is broken down into precise sub-categories, each with its own reference values: group exercise studios, individual practice rooms (cardio and strength machines), combat sports dojos, dance and team sport halls, sports halls including indoor tennis, squash and climbing, pools, ice rinks and covered stadiums, equestrian centres, sports recovery including cryotherapy, and the changing and shower zone common to all of them.

Operators in Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg are not bound by this French text but face equivalent national energy performance rules. The equipment reasoning below applies whichever regime binds you.

The two compliance routes

The choice is made per functional entity and declared on the national OPERAT platform. It is not a formality. A club that is already frugal and opts for the relative route imposes a 40% cut on an already low base, which can become technically unreachable. It is a starting error that is hard to undo.

Where the equipment line actually sits

There is no universal ratio. The share of machines in total consumption depends on the activity mix, opening hours, the presence of changing rooms with showers, and above all on whether there is a pool or wellness area, which dwarfs everything else once it exists. Rather than a misleading figure, here is the audit method we apply.

1. List the fleet by family and by mode. For each machine: power drawn in use, power in standby, and real hours in each state. Standby is systematically underestimated, because it runs across the whole opening window and sometimes beyond.
2. Separate active from passive machines. A motorised treadmill draws power to drive the belt whether or not anyone is on it. An air rower, an air bike or a self-powered treadmill draws nothing to function: resistance is mechanical and only the console needs power, usually from a battery.
3. Measure rather than estimate on the heavy items. A logger left for a week on a dedicated cardio-floor circuit costs little and beats any manufacturer data sheet, which gives rated power, not a usage profile.
4. Express the result per square metre of the functional zone. That is the declaration unit: kWh of final energy per m2 per year.

We deliberately publish no typical range. A figure from an average club has no standing in an audit, and you will be questioned on your calculation method, not on a market average.

Three equipment decisions that move the declaration

The first is to remove standby rather than reduce it. On a cardio floor, standby is the only consumption that runs without delivering any service. It is managed operationally with a zone cut-off at closing, but mainly at purchase: choose machines with genuine automatic shutdown, not a sleeping screen that leaves the electronics live.

The second is to shift part of the floor to self-powered equipment. This is the most direct lever because it does not reduce consumption, it removes it. A machine whose resistance comes from air or magnets, with no drive motor, never appears on the meter.

The trade-off between motorised and self-powered is not only about energy: it involves biomechanics, the target audience and the training format. Curved treadmills suit conditioning and sprint work; motorised belts remain necessary for rehabilitation, incline walking protocols and steady-state cardio. The energy argument is a consequence, not the whole decision. Our guide to cardio machines for gyms and the specification guide for commercial cardio equipment cover the rest.

The third is to size the fleet to real demand. The easiest consumption to remove is that of a machine nobody uses. An oversized floor sits in standby all year for a low off-peak occupancy rate. Zone and time-slot sizing is a design task, handled in our turnkey projects: audit, 3D layout, equipment and installation.

The link with public funding

Energy performance is no longer only a constraint. In France the national sports agency has refocused its equipment plan on energy sobriety, and its renovation scheme for structuring facilities requires a reduction of at least 40% in the facility’s energy consumption to be fundable. The decree trajectory and the funding eligibility criterion converge on the same number, so a project that documents its reduction seriously serves two objectives at once. The wider picture is set out in our article on funding a sports facility.

What this article does not cover

Product carbon footprint and life cycle analysis answer a different logic, closer to procurement and corporate responsibility policy than to a consumption trajectory: see the carbon footprint of fitness equipment. Heating, ventilation and lighting are building works, outside the equipment scope. And the payback calculation on a fleet renewal is treated in gym investment, ROI and payback.

Frequently asked questions

Is a 900 m2 gym covered by the French tertiary decree?

Possibly. The 1,000 m2 threshold applies to the cumulative tertiary floor area on the site, not to the gym alone. A 900 m2 club that shares a building with offices or retail can be over the threshold. Check the perimeter before concluding that you are exempt.

Do self-powered machines really consume nothing?

Nothing to function. Resistance comes from air or magnetic braking driven by the user, so there is no drive motor to feed. Consoles on these machines are usually battery powered or self-generating. Any connected screen or media option added on top does consume, and should be counted.

Can equipment replacement alone deliver a 40% cut?

No, and no supplier should claim otherwise. On most sites the dominant loads are heating, hot water, ventilation and lighting, and a pool or wellness area outweighs everything. Equipment is the line you can act on quickly and document precisely, not the whole trajectory.

What evidence should we keep for an audit?

The fleet inventory with rated and standby power per machine, the metering or logger data behind your usage profile, the invoices and technical sheets for replaced machines, and the functional zone areas used to convert to kWh per m2 per year. Method beats benchmark: you will be asked how you calculated, not what the market average is.

Specify a lower-consumption cardio floor