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Pavegen Systems has created technology to harvest energy from the footfall of passers-by and use it to power nearby electrical devices.
The flexible paving slabs, invented by Laurence Kembal-Cook, absorb the energy created by pedestrians and turn it into electricity that can be used to power lights, computers, automatic doors, tube station ticket machines, shop frontages and train and bus timetables.
The slabs are going into six-month trials in locations throughout the UK in 2010, including local authorities, schools and airports. Limited trials took that place across East London came to an end in August.
Talkback
This is interseting. I remember <a href="http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10009117o-2000578623b,00.htm">this subject</a>
being one of my first blogs for ZDNet UK. Looks like I forgot to keep an eye on this after all!
This works by removing energy from the pedestrians attempt to move. Wait for the first lawsuit when an elderly person overbalances as a direct result of this and is severely injured by falling..
I would have thought the energy was 'spare' energy, otherwise going to waste.
Idea no doubt about that, collating energy for use on local applications within its radios, but for the purpose of pooling such energy mass adoption would haft to take place to maintain the pool and justify the outlay of integrating it into the existing grid system.
But certainly stuff like this is not something to be passed by, it defiantly has a place in our society's.
Apart from the risk I already mentioned - and it is a real risk. Some years ago a family friend died as a direct result of a fall caused by a loose paving slab.
This is a pernicious form of theft. You are taking effort from people without their knowledge or consent. In effect you are making them work for no reward.
Where does it stop? Do you end up with so many of these that at the end of your day you are absolutely exhausted because you feel like you've been walking in soft sand all day?
This can easily be abused, so rest assured, there is a certainty it WILL be abused.
Well firstly sorry to hear about your loss.
But with regards to the technology implementation obviously it would haft to be deployed in a way where the mechanism is under the walking surface as to not impede the walkers, I wasn't exactly thinking lets all walk about on a bouncy castle surface.
As for a form of slave labour walking is something a lot of us do all the time so I do not see the issue hear, but if your referring to this technology being sold back to us once harvested then yeah you have a valid point, but again I was thinking more along the lines of such being free and thus eliminating or reducing overall cost's.