Chris
01-05-2014, 11:51 AM
While we wait for government to pick winners and losers--usually losers given their track record, here's a simple winner from a private company...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_Ii4CIFMCY
Each Step on Smart Hallway Helps Power School (http://news.discovery.com/tech/alternative-power-sources/students-walking-smart-hallway-help-power-school-140104.htm#mkcpgn=rssnws1)
They might look a little like Hogwarts students, but the boys at Simon Langton Grammar School in Canterbury don’t need magic to generate enough electricity to turn on the hallway lights. Instead, their footsteps landing on energy-harvesting tiles can do the trick.
The tiles lining a long hallway at this U.K. school came from the London-based company Pavegen Systems, which specializes in technology that converts energy from footfalls into electricity. The tiles went down at the school in September for the company’s largest education sector installation to date, according to its case study.
...When the boys at Simon Langton walk on the tiles, their footsteps prompt energy data to be displayed back to them in real time on an LED screen, and they can also use that energy generated to power their own projects and charge devices, Sydney Brownstone reported for Co.Exist. They’d have to do a lot of walking first, though.
The main limitation to Pavegen’s technology is that it generates only a few watts per footstep, depending on how hard someone is walking. That translates to about 30 seconds of light for a streetlamp with an LED, Brownstone pointed out.
...Next, the company is planning to install the tiles this month at a private prep school in New Jersey. Pavegen inventor Laurence Kemball-Cook also told Co.Exist that they want to bring the price per tile down in cost so it’s as affordable as linoleum. Last year the tiles were running about $76 apiece....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_Ii4CIFMCY
Each Step on Smart Hallway Helps Power School (http://news.discovery.com/tech/alternative-power-sources/students-walking-smart-hallway-help-power-school-140104.htm#mkcpgn=rssnws1)
They might look a little like Hogwarts students, but the boys at Simon Langton Grammar School in Canterbury don’t need magic to generate enough electricity to turn on the hallway lights. Instead, their footsteps landing on energy-harvesting tiles can do the trick.
The tiles lining a long hallway at this U.K. school came from the London-based company Pavegen Systems, which specializes in technology that converts energy from footfalls into electricity. The tiles went down at the school in September for the company’s largest education sector installation to date, according to its case study.
...When the boys at Simon Langton walk on the tiles, their footsteps prompt energy data to be displayed back to them in real time on an LED screen, and they can also use that energy generated to power their own projects and charge devices, Sydney Brownstone reported for Co.Exist. They’d have to do a lot of walking first, though.
The main limitation to Pavegen’s technology is that it generates only a few watts per footstep, depending on how hard someone is walking. That translates to about 30 seconds of light for a streetlamp with an LED, Brownstone pointed out.
...Next, the company is planning to install the tiles this month at a private prep school in New Jersey. Pavegen inventor Laurence Kemball-Cook also told Co.Exist that they want to bring the price per tile down in cost so it’s as affordable as linoleum. Last year the tiles were running about $76 apiece....