PaveGen

Pavegen Systems is a technology company that has developed paving slabs to convert energy from people's footsteps into electrical power.[1]

A typical tile is made of recycled polymer, with the top surface made from recycled truck tires. Power is generated when a footfall compresses the slab by about 5 mm (0.2 in). The exact technology is a secret, but PaveGen officials have said it involves the piezoelectric effect and induction by copper coils and magnets.[2] Pavegen says each footfall generates up to 7 watts at 12 volts DC,[3] enough to run an LED street lamp for 30 seconds.[1] The technology was developed by Pavegen CEO Laurence Kemball-Cook.[4][5]

Among other installations, the slabs have been laid at London's West Ham Underground station for the 2012 Olympic Games.[6] In April 2013, a demonstration installation harvested energy from the runners in the Paris Marathon.[7] PaveGen has also put these tiles on a public soccer field in Rio de Janeiro to allow play after sunset and spark an interest for science.

A study of a central building at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, suggested that if pavers covered the 3.1% of the floor that sees the most foot traffic, it would generate an estimated 1.1 megawatt-hour per year, about 0.5% of the building's energy needs.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Webster, George (13 October 2011). "Green sidewalk makes electricity -- one footstep at a time". CNN International. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  2. ↑ Khadilkar, Dhananjay. "Energy-Harvesting Street Tiles Generate Power from Pavement Pounder". Scientific American. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Pavegen Official Website". Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  4. ↑ Ha, Thu-Huong. "From robot twins to buggy brains: TEDYou Session 2". TED.com. Retrieved July 2012.
  5. ↑ Periani, Marconi. "TEDxRio+20 Speakers". TedxRio. Retrieved July 2012.
  6. ↑ Ellis, Vicky (13 July 2012). "Foot power lights up Olympic walkway". energylivenews. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  7. ↑ Dhananjay Khadilkar (April 20, 2013). "Energy-Harvesting Street Tiles Generate Power from Pavement Pounder". Scientific American. Retrieved 2013-04-22.
  8. ↑ Li, Xiaofeng; Strezov, Vladimir. "Modelling piezoelectric energy harvesting potential in an educational building". Energy Conversion and Management 85: 435–442. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2014.05.096.

External links


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