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Tuesday, June 27, 2006
11:06:00 AM EDT
Hearing Something That You Said -- The Bangles
Remember in The Matrix, when people were used for energy? This is just like that, minus, uh, being trapped in a vat and plugged into a virtual reality:
London-based Facility Architects is working on a project called Pacesetters that aims to literally harness the pulse of a city and reuse it as a renewable energy source.
"In rush hour at Victoria Station, you have 34,000 people traveling through that space in one hour," said the architectural firm's director, Claire Price. "You don't need to be a math genius to realize that if you can harness that energy… you can actually generate a very useful power source that is currently being wasted."
The architectural team is currently working with a couple of university research groups to finish two vibration-harvesting prototypes by December. The first is a staircase that will contain technology — either hydraulic or piezoelectric — in the risers to sense the kinetic energy from commuter footfalls and convert them into an electrical current.
"To climb stairs you have to apply a bit more force so there may be more energy there," said Jim Hull, a professor of engineering at Hull University. Hull hopes to develop a system that will convert at least 50 percent of the six to eight watts each person typically generates while walking.
The Matrix! It has you! Running will do no good. It will only facilitate their evil plans.
This actually very cool and I kind of wonder why something like this hasn't been tried before. I remember many years ago that there was some plan to build a bridge where energy could be created simply by the movement of the cars across the bridge. I don't think anything ever came of that -- isn't that always the way -- but this seems akin to that.
Personally, I wouldn't mind my footfall being harnessed for energy. Would you?
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11:06:00 AM EDT
Hearing Something That You Said -- The Bangles
Soylent Energy is People!
Remember in The Matrix, when people were used for energy? This is just like that, minus, uh, being trapped in a vat and plugged into a virtual reality:
London-based Facility Architects is working on a project called Pacesetters that aims to literally harness the pulse of a city and reuse it as a renewable energy source.
"In rush hour at Victoria Station, you have 34,000 people traveling through that space in one hour," said the architectural firm's director, Claire Price. "You don't need to be a math genius to realize that if you can harness that energy… you can actually generate a very useful power source that is currently being wasted."
The architectural team is currently working with a couple of university research groups to finish two vibration-harvesting prototypes by December. The first is a staircase that will contain technology — either hydraulic or piezoelectric — in the risers to sense the kinetic energy from commuter footfalls and convert them into an electrical current.
"To climb stairs you have to apply a bit more force so there may be more energy there," said Jim Hull, a professor of engineering at Hull University. Hull hopes to develop a system that will convert at least 50 percent of the six to eight watts each person typically generates while walking.
The Matrix! It has you! Running will do no good. It will only facilitate their evil plans.
This actually very cool and I kind of wonder why something like this hasn't been tried before. I remember many years ago that there was some plan to build a bridge where energy could be created simply by the movement of the cars across the bridge. I don't think anything ever came of that -- isn't that always the way -- but this seems akin to that.
Personally, I wouldn't mind my footfall being harnessed for energy. Would you?
Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |
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This entry has 4 comments: (Add your own)
-
Why do they have to make it so complicated? Turnstiles!!! Many turnstiles!
I'm not too hopeful about the future of this project when I read "To climb stairs you have to apply a bit more force so there may be more energy there."
Yes, your body internally burns more because it's lifting, and larger muscle groups are used. But to the external stair tread, there is NOT more energy imparted - it's the same 120 lbs pressing down on the stair tread as on the floor when you walk across the room. It's not like when you stomp your foot and directly transfer muscle energy. In fact, you might harvest more energy from bodies descending than from climbing, since there you'll sometimes get the stomp effect.
~~Silk -
Only if fat people got discounted power rates.
-
It's good, in that it's a non-polluting way to make electricity. On the other hand, such steps would require more work to walk up, since they would be pressed down by your feet to generate electricity, which means that their electricity would be generated by my work, and by my body turning my food into energy for me. It's a good way to spread the cost of electricity generation across a large group of people.
K
6/27/06 3:06 PM
-Paul
http://journals.aol.ca/plittl