With increasingly overloaded power grids, economic and sustainable energy sources are increasingly sought after. At the same time, joblessness rates remain high.
Imagine a facility similar to a gym that converts movement and body heat into energy that can be stored in batteries. This energy can be sold onto the grid or used by the facility.
The "Human Energy Provider" (HEP) can receive currency for kWh produced or the equivalent as a voucher for purchases at the faciity or network of service providers. It could also be a way to raise funds for a favorite charity.
Society needs energy. People need access to essential goods, services, or cash for their bills. HEP's await such a distributed energy system to jump into action.
Which will be the first utility to facilitate HEP's? What is your take on this approach?
From the web... Powering your own home as you work out:
http://revolution-news.com/60-minutes-on-this-bicycle-can-power-your-home-for-24-hours/
Nelson Abreu, BSEE
Smart Grid Engineer
USA
There are certainly ways to harvest some of the otherwise wasted energy from gym equipment. It would be easier to use equipment designed for this than to retrofit.
ReplyDeleteThere are different techniques like:
- piezoelectric (pressure)
- electromagnetic induction
- thermal energy storage
Energy can be stored in DC batteries and inverters can convert to AC to power some loads. If the battery drains, relays can throwover those loads to normal grid source. If the utility has a feed-in tariff or bi-directional (net) metering, power can be sold into the grid.
Here is a story that TIME did on such a gym:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2032281,00.html
Here is a music video that plays on the theme :)
ReplyDeleteDavid Guetta's "The Alphabeat"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzE8d5AXImo&feature=share&list=PLF1C84F0A48349EAB
https://www.facebook.com/giveashitaboutnature/posts/577070792367800:0
ReplyDelete