Fascinating: People Power - Literally

Peizo-electricity.

I won’t get into the science of how this works, basically because I don’t understand it. Anyway, it boils down to creating electricity from walking or in one specific case, dancing. Read on...

Earlier this year, The East Japan Railway Company, conducted a test of a "power generating floor". Piezo-electric floors were installed at the ticket gates of stations with high foot traffic. The system relies on a series of piezo elements embedded in the floor under the ticket gates, which generate electricity from the pressure and vibration they receive as people step on them. The goal is to use the floor to create electricity to cover a portion of the electrical output for station facilities such as automatic ticket gates and displays. No word yet on how the test turned out...stay tuned.

On the other side of the world, on September 2, Iggy Pop will be performing at Club Watt in Rotterdam, Holland and this performance will be unlike any other. Those on the dance floor will play their part in keeping the lights lit and the bass thumping. Club Watt has installed a piezo dance floor to take advantage of the vast amount of energy expended by the clubbers.

"When you dance, you generate energy by the shaking of the ground," Stef van Dongen, director of environmental innovation lab Enviu. "What we do, very simply, is to capture the movement of dancing people and transform it into energy."

Power from the People!