We had featured something by JR East some time back that promised that there would be a clean, resourceful source of energy in the future that would be pumped up by nothing more than steps taken by people. Another research done by one Lawrence Kemball-Cook from Pavegen Systems has yielded in a more practical, realistic approach. Instead of placing the energy producing material at a railway station, he has placed them on a pavement. Every step taken on this can generate 2.1 watts of power per hour. There are specially designed rubber stones that absorb the energy and store it as kinetic energy in lithium polymer batteries or distributed to lights and other electronics.
This means that we can have a completely illuminated city, with all the people walking around the place. What’s more is that it’s a clean source of energy.
[Inhabitat]