Beat that Electricity

posted on Tuesday, December 02, 2008 01:00 AM

power harvesting society forward

Engineers and scientists across the UK (as well as Northern America) are developing tiny generators that turn the kinetic energy of everyday movements into electricity which can then power sensors or provide electricity for remote installations. This funky and fabstastic technology is known as power harvesting.

Power harvesters are both for the environment and for our health with harvesters also being developed to help cardiac patients. At Imperial College, London, Dr Paul Mitcheson is working on a pacemaker that is kept constantly charged by the beating of a person's heart. Such a device, he said, could mean that pacemaker replacement operations - which are typically carried out every six or seven years - might become a thing of the past. Groovy!

Even the gyrations of dancers are being used to generate power at the Bar Surya in London. Crystalline harvesters under its disco floor create tiny pulses of energy each time a dancer pushes down. The electricity created this way is used to offset the bar's utility bills. Installed on a large scale, in tube and rail stations, these underfloor harvesters could provide a considerable output of electricity. Who said eco-friendly thinking wasn't sexy?! Come on now, dance to that tune and beat that eletricity!

Comments

No comments