Collecting this energy is enough to power lights and other small devices for minutes at a time from a mere one hundred or so footfalls.
Credit: Pavegen
When we look at the kinetic energy that people produce from things such as footfalls or climbing steps, it just makes sense that we begin to move toward harnessing energy from human activity.
That is the mantra of the company Pavegen – the developer of power-generating systems for pavements, football fields, and even school corridors.
The technology for innovations such as this already exists, with the piezoelectric effect dating back more that 130 years.
Now, we have the ability to place these piezoelectric devices in unlikely places. When Pavegen applied this technology to a football field, they were able to produce up to 7 watts of energy with each step.
