Anything that moves was once hunted and consumed. Nowadays, anything that moves is still hunted for consumption. But, with a difference. Power consumption.
The cosmologists look for ‘Dark energy’ or the missing energy that has to be accounted for, given the accelerating cosmos. The nature of this energy is a mystery, even if it accounts for more than 70 percent of what constitutes the universe!
More mundane perhaps is the search for the more familiar energy, lurking in nooks and corners of our homes. Every new study these days seems to talk of harnessing energy from some or the other kind of movement. If one gadget traps the energy as you walk, another picks it from the pedal to light a bulb! Another transforms your voice to electricity!
The latest example of this is the world’s first energy-generating revolving door located at Natuurcafe La Port in the Netherlands. The door, which will generate about 4600 kWh each year, is part of a larger sustainable refurbishment of the railway station.
Natuurcafe’s door uses a generator that is driven by the energy applied when people pass through. Super-capacitators store the generated energy and provide a power supply for the ceiling’s LED lights. Where would you find more footfall than at a restaurant? A subway! That is where Tokyo has put piezoelectric floors to catch the energy from every step that passes by.
Now here is an exercise for our visitors. How about coming up with five new motions that can generate energy? Hint: Motions that are repetitive, or continuous.
Do come up with the answers, however bizarre. We need to get the ideas whirring. Do not hesitate to voice it.
The cosmologists look for ‘Dark energy’ or the missing energy that has to be accounted for, given the accelerating cosmos. The nature of this energy is a mystery, even if it accounts for more than 70 percent of what constitutes the universe!
More mundane perhaps is the search for the more familiar energy, lurking in nooks and corners of our homes. Every new study these days seems to talk of harnessing energy from some or the other kind of movement. If one gadget traps the energy as you walk, another picks it from the pedal to light a bulb! Another transforms your voice to electricity!
The latest example of this is the world’s first energy-generating revolving door located at Natuurcafe La Port in the Netherlands. The door, which will generate about 4600 kWh each year, is part of a larger sustainable refurbishment of the railway station.
Natuurcafe’s door uses a generator that is driven by the energy applied when people pass through. Super-capacitators store the generated energy and provide a power supply for the ceiling’s LED lights. Where would you find more footfall than at a restaurant? A subway! That is where Tokyo has put piezoelectric floors to catch the energy from every step that passes by.
Now here is an exercise for our visitors. How about coming up with five new motions that can generate energy? Hint: Motions that are repetitive, or continuous.
Do come up with the answers, however bizarre. We need to get the ideas whirring. Do not hesitate to voice it.
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1 comment:
How about patches of the same piezoelectric material pasted on roads and rail lines? Would they not generate energy? The question would be, which is the larger energy here: the amount put into making the peizoelectric material, or what is generated?
What about tapping the motion of a fan to get back part of the energy? Feasible?
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