I like this idea -- it's thinking outside the box. British engineers are working on a plan to use the footsteps of pedestrians to generate electricity.
The Times reports that the technology has already been successfully trialled and the firm behind it is in talks with supermarkets and railway stations. It works by using the footfall of pedestrians to compress pads under the floor, pushing fluid through turbines to generate electricity. Copy and paste this URL into your browser to see more:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4087518.ece [1]
According to the report, calculations suggest that the 34,000 train-travellers passing through London's Victoria Underground station every hour could generate enough electricity to power 6,500 lightbulbs.
[1] The Times' Terms and Conditions prohibit giving the newspaper free advertising by linking to pages on their website. Links are prohibited, but merely providing the URL is allowed. Stupid, isn't it? Back
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Electricity from footsteps
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
If they could combine it with this technology, they could call it the Boob Tube.
The energy in footsteps comes from somewhere - namely, the food people eat.
If this system simply absorbs energy that would otherwise be wasted as sound or vibration, it could be useful. If it actually makes walking harder (and thus causes people to eat more) it will probably have a worse impact on the environment than doing nothing.
This is great!
Post a Comment