DURHAM – Working out never seemed so enticing.

A lot of ideas were trotted out yesterday during an alternative energy conference at the University of New Hampshire, including a project that would harness electricity from exercise machines to power a room or a television.

"The idea is if you want to run something in your home, you have to bicycle to do it," said Professor John LaCourse, the faculty advisor for the Human Energy Generator.

LaCourse, chairman of the department of electrical and computer engineering, said he hopes to have students expand on the project's research next year and to install a demonstration project at gyms across campus.

The energy conference, which continues today, is the brainchild of Professor Gordon Kraft, who devised the meeting as a way to bring many different energy-minded officials together to come up with new ideas on sustainable, more environmentally friendly energy sources.

"This is the shotgun conference that involves everybody," he said, noting that future meetings will help focus the ideas presented.

Those ideas were abundant yesterday. There were projects on harnessing energy from waves, rising tides and wind. One project included adding a wind turbine to a truck and another that put a type of windmill on a jeep.

Kraft said one of the most innovative ideas he happened upon would include using New Hampshire's many dams to produce hydrogen and turn them into fueling stations for hydrogen cars. The vehicles, long in development, have faced the major hurdle that, even if they are sold on the open market, there is nowhere to get fuel.

"That's a very unique idea," Kraft said of the prospective stations, noting that New Hampshire has many dams that could be used, including one just outside downtown Durham.

The conference brought together about 50 scientists, industry experts and officials and Kraft said he hopes energy solutions will come as a result. He said many factors are at play when it comes to new ways to generate and use energy, none as strong as money, but everyone can take simple steps to conserve, such as using solar power for water heaters.

With gas pushing $4 a gallon across the nation, the pressure is on to find new sources of energy and universities will be on the front lines of that quest.

LaCourse said students and energy-industry officials have begun to clamor for more education on alternative energy. He said UNH plans to add and modify classes to meet that need.

"The students are interested in having a big impact on society," he said, "and that's a good thing."