Supplying Energy: One Step at a Time

"Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another." - Albert Einstein
Finding ways to store energy from everyday tasks to be usable in other parts of your life would be ideal.  No energy wasted.

To the marathon runners in Paris, France this could not be a more true statement. The Paris Marathon organizers laid tiles that harvest energy across the road.  These tiles were made from recycled tires. Recycled products producing clean energy - what could be more green?

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Created by Pavegen Systems Ltd has created this new type of energy technology to go off-grid and "make a low-carbon contribution wherever there is high footfall, regardless of weather." (source)

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Each footfall creates 8 watts of electricity.  How does that compare to the usage in your house?  Well an average household uses about 8,000 kilowatt hours each month.  It takes 1,000 watts to get a kilowatt. So 80,000 watts need to be generated to supply your house with electricity. That equates to 100,000 steps.

That may sound like a lot. But according to TheWalkingSite.com you should walk 10,000 steps in a day to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Wouldn't it be neat if they could harness the energy from everyday walking to power your house? It would take 10 days of walking the recommended amount. (Of course this will change depending on your household usage)

Can you imagine if we could put the foot traffic of NYC to work to generate power to light  up the night?

It looks like the US Army is already cultivating this type of technology with infantrymen.

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As technology develops and is used more in the field, soldiers must carry that battery power to operate the devices.  Carrying that much energy storage can become very cumbersome on an already heavy load.  This technology would allow a solider to charge two AA batteries after walking 85 minutes.  In an emergency situation more energy could be generated by doing knee bends.

Of course because walking is not always continuous, the power generated comes in burst   The team working on this have built a "capacitor circuit that filters these energy spikes into a usable form for recharging AA batteries.  The energy is then stored around the ankle.  (source)

In case you don't have the technology to supply your own energy buy walking - IDT Energy still has your back! Happy to be your energy nerds, buying green and conventional energy to supply your home with the power it needs to keep working!

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