For years scientists have suggested a great way to save carbon and help prevent climate change is to walk short journeys instead of using a car. Now Dutch scientists and engineers working in France are testing a product that could make walking better for the environment than you ever thought possible.
They have created an energy storing pavement that converts your foot steps into useful energy, which could be used to power street lights and other electrical devices. The pavement is currently being road tested in Toulouse and early reports are positive. Utilising the energy created by pedestrians could not only save fossil fuels from being burned but save councils or retailers and other businesses money in the process. A shop where a similar material is used as carpeting throughout the store could potentially save thousands a year on lighting and electricity bills and provide a novel retail experience for consumers.
The pavement could also be used in rural areas or developing nations with no access to a reliable energy source, powering computers and other equipment.
So how does it work?
Everything time we step on the ground we give a little bit of energy to the floor, this energy arrives in the form of kinetic energy, the energy associated with movement. Normally this energy is converted to heat and sound energy and in usable terms is wasted. The special pavement converts this kinetic energy that would otherwise be wasted into electrical energy. Each step only provides a small amount of energy, but as a metre of pavement can receive tens of thousands of steps a day this can add up to a very useful amount of energy. The energy can then be stored in batteries or used directly by street lights.
Hitting the Dance Floor
Not content with just powering our street lamps the Dutch designers Jaap van den Braak also have their eye on sustainable partying. They have designed a Sustainable Dance Floor™ which uses the energy of dancing party goers to power the music and lights of the party. Not only does the energy created by the dancers power the disco but lights on the floor interact with the movement showing how much energy is being created, encouraging the dancers to throw shapes even harder on the dance floor. Now if that’s not an excuse to get down, I don’t know what is.
It works via a similar process to the pavement – converting kinetic energy into useful electrical current, however due to the energetic nature of dancing far more energy is supplied, meaning relatively few dancers could indeed power the party. The dance floor is available for retailers to rent now, more information can be found at the website [1].
The pavement is just at testing state at the moment (to be sustainable long term itself it needs to last for a certain number of years, taking millions of steps) but early signs are promising meaning soon you could be powering the fight against climate change just by going for a stroll.
If you would like to learn more about cleaner sources of energy then why not take a look at our informative pages?
