Two Boston graduate students, working on a European train station project, have developed a whimsical idea to transform human movement into electrical energy. Their “crowd farm” would use a floor system that harnesses the slippage of blocks as people walked on them to generate electricity.
MIT School of Architecture and planning
James Graham and Tad Jusczyk
MIT School of Architecture and planning
MIT students Jusczyk (center) and Graham use block slippage on ramps and walks.
James Graham and Thaddeus Jusczyk, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's School of Architecture and Planning were working on a theoretical project downsizing train station tracks in Turin, Italy when they came up with the idea. “We were trying to figure out the resources at hand,” says Graham. “This is a vibrant space with lots of people and we though about capturing all that movement and converting it to energy.”
The two initially looked at simple ideas like using turnstiles to generate energy and then decided on using footfalls. “There is an architectural firm in Europe that did a floor for a dance club using piezo-electric (mechanical to electrical) technology to generate light,” says Graham. “Our site is 3⁄4 of a mile by 1⁄4 of a mile but the generating portion, the station, is concentrated and would lend itself it nicely to this kind of project.”
The dynamic floor blocks, a subfloor system used in lobbies and ramps, could have great energy-saving potential. The students figure that a single human step under ideal conditions can power two 60 Watt light bulbs for one second. But a crowd of thousands, actively walking or dragging luggage over the blocks around the clock could make the kinetic energy from human activity a new, cheap clean- energy frontier. “Our intention was to think of it not as a high-tech mat that would be laid down somewhere, but to really integrate it into a new sort of building system,” says Graham. He is quick to point out that their system is theoretical and others also are working on similar ideas.
Pedpower
One such researcher is free-lance designer Elizabeth Redmond, Chicago, who is working on Project POWERleap, which uses urban floor tiles made from material that compresses to generate and distribute electricity. “My design uses 2-in. by 1-in. piezo-electric ceramic plates composed of lead zirconate titrate with a brass reinforcement shim covered in nickel electrodes for low current leakage,” she says. “There is one plate in each 1-ft by 1-ft concrete base and glass-topped tile and when a plate is bent it generates 5.5 Watts of power that is converted into electricity.”
Redmond demonstrated her idea last year with a prototype on a public sidewalk in downtown Ann Arbor, Mich. The idea flowed from a bachelor’s thesis at the University of Michigan's School of Art and Design. “The working installation was four plates, 2 ft by 4 ft, surrounded by concrete blocks that was up for just one evening,” she says. “The plates were wired to four LEDs inside, which would light up when stepped on. Participants could then see that their movement can generate electricity.” The prototype cost $1,000, not including labor. She notes the greatest cost is the piezo-electric material. But if the plates were mass-produced, they could be used to light buildings, streets and signs as people moved within or near them. She envisions the concept as one way in which people can offset their electrical consumption while conserving natural resources, lowering emissions, protecting the environment and saving money. “When people need to consume, they can generate small amounts of electricity just by taking a walk,” she says.
Redmond currently is working on her next-generation design. “I have a $10,000 grant from Mohawk Industries, a large residential and commercial flooring company, to study the connectability between tiles, the material selection and optimum installation size,” she says. “The next installation, using the same technology but new materials, is planned for October, perhaps in Millennium Park or the high-traffic Miracle Mile."
