how many average American homes could be run per year on the amount of
energy needed for the inessential bright lights of Las Vegas per year?

bonus question for a hefty tip:
if all the commercial gyms in Las Vegas (how many are there?) could
use the energy generated through the use of all their exercise
equipment, how many average American homes could they run per year? 
(assuming a reasonable percentage of usable energy)

(oh drats.  I just realized I may have just given Bryan another
brilliant and marketable idea . . . !)

Brilliant, O Timely One,

Another age-old secret is finally revealed.

The late Nikola Tesla always claimed that he had conceived a way of
providing the world with FREE energy.

Naturally, he was 'silenced' by You-Know-Who before he could launch
his venture but, so the story goes, he entrusted his secret to one of
his faithful disciples who (allegedly) locked it in a small safe and
then conveniently 'lost' the combination.

For the sake of your health, I advise you NOT to resuscitate this
exciting energy conversion scheme .... for obvious reasons.

(You may find yourself beaten up by a frying-pan, non-stick or otherwise.)

OMG!!!!!!!!

Too funny.....

Don't hit yourself on the head with any frying pans Bryan...

Hi TS,

The first law of thermodynamics tells us that energy can not be
created. It can only be transferred from one form to another. Your
question of this finite source has great merit.

I would argue though, that the bright lights of Las Vegas are
essential. How else would the children abandoned to locked cars be
amused as they wait for the return of beloved elders? How else do you
propose the struggling casino operators differentiate themselves?
Surely flashier signage is to assist the negative investor with an
informed choice of immediate gratification of loss.

The actual number of gyms is almost irrelevant to your other question,
as you refer to the energy displaced by the equipment in use. Should
10,000 gym goers attend a spread of 47, 32 or 115 gymnasiums, the
expended energy via equipment use alone should broadly be the same.

Phil

ps Please ask Irene what "bahhhh ... bahhhhhhh .. bahhhhhhhhh" means.

I presume The brighter lights of Las Vegus generally use floresent
tubes rather than incandesent, so perhaps the brightest 100 average
one million watts of inessentual electricity, and the rest of the city
only wastes one million watts. This would run about 1000 average USA
homes; somewhat more if you decided none of the casino lights are
essential.
 While a physically fit human can generate about 2000 watts, the
average at the gym applied to the exercise equipment is likely about
50 watts times 10,000 persons (peak) exercising = 1/2 million watts =
only enough to light one medium bright casino.   Neil

Personally, I am very fond of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, not
because it basically states that everything . . . and ah mean
everythin' . . . is going to hell in a handbasket, but because it
tacitly implies a self-organizing principle moving the other way. 
Very cool.  Very, very cool.

But I digress . . .

As for Tesla, I just might end up agreeing with Puzzled of Hove about
the dangers involved.  I heard that Tesla once made a whole ship
disappear and reappear, and that when it came back some of the crew
members were embedded in the steel hull!  Eeeeuuuuwww!   I, for one,
would not want to see those lovely Abs of Steel and Buns of Steel
embedded in Nautilus machines . . . althought this could have a
certain appeal to the television viewing public.

Perhaps a new reality TV show?  Light Up America: the Tesla Challenge.

I think, too, that Phil has a good point about those poor kids; I've
seen their faces myself, though they did seem to be enjoying their
Gameboys.  If there was any fear and loathing there, it was definitely
being mitigated.

Speaking of gates, did you know that Tesla invented the Logic Gate? 

oops!  darn!  it's been left ajar (as it happens not infrequently in
these forums) . . . and the sheep are getting out!     As Pink would
say, how are ya gonna keep 'em down on the forum . . . once they've
spotted an open Logic Gate?

Ahhhh.  One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.  . . . . Zzzzzzz.....