MIT grad students propose crowd farming to generate electricity
A pair of MIT graduate architecture students are proposing a novel, almost carbon-free way to generate electricity. In crowded buildings and malls when thousands of people are walking around, every step they take puts mechanical energy into the floor. They want to harness that energy by building in a generating system tied to the vibrations of the floor. As people move around the individual energy is small but when aggregated it could potentially produce a significant amount of power.
A system like this wouldn't be practical to retro-fit but if built into new buildings it could reduce the amount of outside power required. Perhaps if they had parking spaces with plugs tied the system, shoppers could recharge their vehicles while they shop.
[Source: MIT]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Fabio 10:19AM (7/29/2007)
It would also have another benefit: converting mechanical energy into electricity, will save the building some of the stress that it would otherwise undergo.
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Kardax 12:19PM (7/29/2007)
A novel idea, but I wonder if the electricity provided will ever make up for the cost of installation. I get the feeling that a busy building lobby filled with this stuff could barely keep a 40-watt bulb lit...
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Fabio 1:16PM (7/29/2007)
Kardax,
The original MIT press release [1] says that one person's step can lit 2 60W bulbs for one second. Therefore, an entire crowd would be able to produce quite a good amount of energy. However, I did my own calculation: assuming a 70kg person raised his feet about 5cm off the ground at every step, the amount of energy liberated at each step would be 70kg * 9.81m * s^-2 * 0,05m = 34.3 joules (if I remember anything from the physic classes), which would power one light bulb for a little more than half a second.
But perhaps they assumed a 120kg burger eater who stomps his feet from an height of 10cm... who knows. :-P
[1] http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/crowdfarm-0725.html
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L1G 3:09PM (7/29/2007)
Already done in an underground station of Tokyo and as a result they only lit a 40W bulb as said by Kardax...
http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news-12611-Clients+of+Japan+Rail+will+also+produce+free+electricity.html
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Tormod Henne 5:47PM (7/30/2007)
You would probably save more electric energy for free by turning off such devices as escelators in shopping malls etc.
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