the majority of people on earth take part in one of these activities on a daily basis so imagine the potential when you think that all of these actions produce energy which, in conjunction with technology already available, can be harnessed and used as a source with which to power the tv at your gym, power the streetlights as you drive, power subway ticket machines as you walk towards them or power a nightclub’s sound system as you dance. all of these examples have been realised to date, successfully.
admittedly it’s early days and to implement these technologies on a wide scale would take years but it’s an ingenious concept and one which would guarantee sustainable sources of energy for as long as we keep on moving.
1. the bridge
this is the sakura bridge in tokyo, one of many bridges on the area’s shuto expressway. what makes the bridge unique however is the fact that the vibrations caused by vehicles crossing the structure are converted by way of the piezo effect (the ability for some materials, more often than not crystals, to produce electricity as a result of mechanical pressure) and subsequently used to generate the electricity needed to illuminate the bridge. the metropolitan expressway company aim to utilise this technology across the entire network of roads, eventually negating the need for any other kind of external power source when lighting the roads.
2. the nightclub
the sustainable dance club premiered its electricity generating dancefloor in rotterdam, october 2006 and instantly recieved worldwide praise. using a dance floor embedded with piezoelectric elements enabled the organisers to harness the collective energy of everyone who stepped foot on it and divert the converted electricity to the club’s sound and lighting systems. understandably, initial results weren’t mind-blowing but as the technology develops so will the electrical output. the long-term plan is to install these floors in clubs worldwide.
3. the train station
earlier this year at tokyo station, a second experiment was carried out by east japan railway company in order to discover just how much electricity could be produced by the thousands of commuters passing through the building on a daily basis. from january through to march a power-generating floor, embedded with piezoelectric elements, was installed at the yaesu north exit’s ticket gates, concourse and stairs and the experiment was a success. the next aim is to install these floors ticket gates station-wide, the resultant electricity used to power all automatic ticket gates, ticket machines and electric displays.
4. the gym
and finally, the place we all love to avoid. last year a hong kong branch of california fitness called in inventor lucien gambarota to modify some of some of its cardio machines using the trusty old dynamo. these adapted machines were then hooked up to the gym’s lighting system, the result being a well-lit room as long as a serious amount of effort was made. following this trial, as you’ll hear on the video, plans are apparently afoot to introduce these modifications on a company-wide scale.
sources: 1, 2, 3, 4