As we are squeezing every bit of our lives to save on energy, some radical ideas pop-up, asking why don’t we produce energy from our everyday actions.
Watching my two kids in the playground, I thought about the opportunity cost of the energy their crazy games could produce. It was a funny idea, but when I googled it, I saw that several programs in Africa are actually using some playground equipments like merry-go-rounds to pump up fresh water.
“Generally speaking, the children’s play can generate the clean water for the community,” said Marissa Valdez, a spokesperson for PlayPumps International.
Playful idea, isn’t it!
Let’s see what else we can do to produce energy from our muscles:
- Some exercise machines in Green Microgym in Portland, Ore., generate electricity as people use them for their regualar work out.
- Natuurcafe La Port in the Netherlands has the world’s first energy-generating revolving door which is to provide energy savings of about 4600 kWh each year as people push the door.
- Likewise, The East Japan Railway Company, as part of research aimed at developing more environmentally friendly train stations, is testing an experimental system that produces electricity as people pass through ticket gates.
- As part of the Club4Climate project London’s first eco-friendly disco Surya was openned in King’s Cross., where 60% of the energy needed to run the club is generated from the piezoelectric dancefloor, which uses crystalline harvesters under its disco floor to create tiny pulses of energy each time a dancer pushes down.
Human stemmed renewable energy is not yet the most efficient way to produce energy, though. So, it would be in vain trying to meet the energy wasted on your food by exercising in the eco-gym to burn that very food. But, if it is something you normally do, just like my kids, it is a brilliant idea, I must admit.