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Going all out in a group training class. Perfecting your swim stroke in the pool. Setting a new personal record on the fitness floor. Life Time members bring their exhilarating energy into our clubs and spaces every day.

Inspired by that refreshing vitality, Life Time team members tap into that enthusiasm to explore new possibilities for optimizing our programs, services, offerings, and places, including ways to create greener environments. We’re committed to having a positive impact on the health and wellness of our members and team members, as well as the communities in which we operate and on this one planet we have to call home.

To better focus our sustainability efforts, we recently surveyed over 2,000 of our members about what’s important to them when it comes to eco-friendly practices. We learned that our members care most about recycling, conserving energy, and eliminating single-use plastic.

“Overall, our members really care about what Life Time is doing to protect the environment,” says Pete Isabell, director of energy management and sustainability for Life Time. “And if we all make sustainable choices, there’s potential to make a big impact.”

Here’s how Life Time is committed to conserving natural resources — and how you can help make a difference.

Reducing Plastic

“Our members care the most about reducing plastic and recycling,” says Isabell. “In particular, they were interested in seeing more eco-friendly products in the locker room and in the LifeCafe®.”

Life Time is making efforts to reduce plastics in all our locations in order to keep waste out of our oceans and landfills. All of our athletic clubs, along with Life Time Work and Life Time Living locations, provide several filtered water bottle refill stations to cut down on single-use plastic water bottles. And starting this summer, our wet swimsuit bags will be made with post-consumer recycled ocean plastic collected from beaches around the world.

A member favorite, our refillable iced tea tumbler will be back this summer with a more environmentally friendly stainless-steel design to help reduce the number of plastic cups discarded. Going forward, we are also working to reduce single-use plastics in the LifeCafe by switching to recycled plastic or other sustainable materials.

What you can do:

  • Bring a reusable water bottle to fill at the water stations throughout the club to stay hydrated during your workouts.
  • If you use one of our plastic swimsuit bags, let it dry out and reuse it as much as possible.

Energy Efficiency

Over the last five years, we’ve improved our electricity use by 35 percent as a company, saving 130 million kWh of electricity per year. That’s enough to power more than 15,500 homes for a year.

We’ve also reduced our natural gas use by 15 percent, saving 2.7 million therms of natural gas — enough to power a car for 35.5 million miles. And in the next five years, we’re committing to another 20 percent reduction in energy at all our facilities — an additional 75 million kWh of electricity and 3.6 million therms of natural gas per year. (Note: Therms is the unit of measurement for natural-gas use over time; one therm is equivalent to 100,000 BTUs.)

What you can do:

  • At home, energy conservation can be as simple as turning off lights and appliances when you aren’t using them. At our Life Time Living locations, we use smart home technology to help manage energy use in each home.
  • Consider installing a programmable thermostat to reduce heating and cooling when you’re asleep or out of the house.

Eco-Conscious Lighting

All Life Time facilities — including Life Time Work and Life Time Living — feature LED lighting, which uses 70 to 80 percent less electricity than conventional lighting. We partner with manufacturers to custom-engineer LED lamps that last longer and emit more light. This upgrade saves enough energy to power 3,200 homes a year.

What you can do:

  • Replace your light bulbs with energy-efficient alternatives, such as LEDs, to use 25 to 80 percent less electricity than traditional bulbs.
  • Use lamps whenever possible for ample light with a lower cost and energy output.

Smart Water Programs

In the last five years, we’ve also reduced our overall water consumption by 10 percent or 157 million gallons. Each of the 3,000-plus showerheads across all club locations have a stainless steel, low-flow design. The installation of these models reduced shower water flow by 45 percent, which saves enough water to fill 165 Olympic-sized swimming pools every year. And in the next five years, we’ll work to reduce our overall water consumption by another 20 percent.

What you can do:

  • Look at your water bill to monitor your water usage and make adjustments where you can. Roughly 60 percent of residential water usage occurs indoors through flushing toilets, washing clothes, and showering.
  • Consider installing low-flow showerheads in your bathrooms at home.

Future Plans

Over the next five years, we will continue to increase our energy, waste, and water reduction efforts — while also finding more ways to increase sustainability. For example, we’re working on better ways to recycle organic waste in our cafes, so that what we don’t use can go on to help fertilize the fields where we get our local produce.

“Our goal is for every member and team member to understand our sustainability mission, and we’re focusing on proven technologies that will have the greatest impact on energy conservation and sustainability,” says Isabell.

Learn more about Life Time’s sustainability efforts.

Emily Ewen

Emily Ewen is a senior writer and content editor at Life Time.

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