Energy From Pedestrians
Energy, energy, energy. I hear so many news lately about scientists trying to get electrical energy from all sorts of devices, and make a greener living for us. I’m tired of it. Why do they just talk and give us just some useless press releases? When is my house actually going to be powered by such a thing?
Anyway, this new way looks like it is actually going to be applied in England, so it may be worth taking a look at. The whole idea is that we can get energy from pretty much anything that moves, so David Webb, from the British consultancy of Scott Wilson got this sparky idea, about placing small “heel-strike” generators under the stairs from certain ultra-crowded location.
The first project to benefit from the spark is the Spinnaker Tower from Portsmouth, UK. The construction that was open to the public in 2005 has been attracting almost one million visitors in under two years, so it looks like an ideal place to start. With a height of 170m, you can imagine how many steps it has.
If it works, the technology will be used afterwards in the Victoria Underground Station from the center of London, where the 34,000 people moving around each hour should maintain about 6,500 light bulbs bright. Well, it’s doable, and, more important, it’s not just words. Let’s wait and see where this leads to…
Tags: David Webb,Energy,England,generator,heel-strike generator,London,Spinnaker Tower,steps,Victoria Underground Station
Talk. Only talk and that’s it. Then we go and invade Iraq and spend thousands and thousands of dollars a day to get oil to continue using this stupid source of energy for another 30 years. If the amount of money America spent on this pointless war was put into research, development AND implementation of alternative fuels, we would be so much farther down the road than we are now. Instead, people like Bush, Cheney and Rice are in it for the money and do what will benefit themselves the most.
Sorry for bringing politics into this, but your statement about the actual implementation of these new sources of energy ignited something.
Honestly though, there is so much more talk than action. It is entirely up to these large established corporations (car manufacturers, building material manufacturers, developers, etc) to begin the cycle of change. Oh, and ofcourse, governments (and not just that of Dubai) must have some interest in progress as well.