The idea of using the pressure of people walking on a paving stone to generate electricty.
OK, not too tough, bit of piezo electrics and you\’re away. However:
The relatively high cost of the modules remained a deterrent, he said, but should not put off authorities in cities where the political will was strong.
It doesn\’t actually work which is a small problem. \”Work\” as in the sense of being sensible to do that is. The capital cost is higher than the value of any electricity being generated. Only those looking for a political stunt should do it.
Ah, so it\’s just like almost all green technologies then.
Not a new idea (see here), but I don’t think anyone has ever taken it seriously before.
Presumably walking on them is “harder” than on normal paving stones, as the energy taken by the generator is not being used to propel the walker. (Or is my physics confused?)
Not that that is a bad thing if you’re looking to stay fit…
Whenever I go on the tube, or into a shopping centre or airport with escalators, I am struck by this conundrum:
We waste electricity taking a whole load of people up on one escalator, while doing the same to take another payload of folk down. Why can’t we just use the potential energy of the descending crowd, to power the ascent of the others, and only apply enough power to keep the system in dynamic equilibrium?