Piezoelectrics installed in Tokyo railway station floors generate power, wastes it
By Laura June 
posted December 11th 2008 3:56PM
posted December 11th 2008 3:56PM
The East Japan Railway Company has been running tests on a "power-generating floor" since the beginning of January 2007, but they've just installed the system for public testing in several areas of the Tokyo station. Using piezoelectrics similar to that we've seen before in a UK discotheque, the Japanese company says the power-generating capacity of the flooring has increased ten-fold over its initial results, and they now expect to generate 1,400kW/sec per day. With that, they plan to power the display pictured above, which shows the power generatd by the floor. Sound a little redundant? Fear not: they plan on using the juice to operate automatic ticket gates in the future.
[Via Inhabitat]
[Via Inhabitat]
Do you have any idea how much the demand for rice is going to go up! Each asian who steps on it has to exert a tiny amount of energy to keep themselves balanced, which means they're going to need to consume more and more rice to make up the energy they lost stepping on these things!
Why don't we just feed the machines rice t begin with!
I agree. I don't want people stealing my calories while I'm walking down the sidewalk to the Cafe 80's
Demand of rice? Carolies?
I would say that those energy comes from our belly......It would only turn your fat into energy instead of consuming more food, nowadays people already eat way too much than they needed.
redundant? no, i think you mean ironic, circular, or self-defeating. take your pick.
I'm still convince that we should generate power from gym studios!
To all the people out there who are saying that generating only 338 watts per day is a small amount and that only big chunks matter. If you look at the world, if each person took one 100W bulb and replaced it with an energy efficient bulb the amount of power saved is incredible, i believe it is enough to take a considerable number of coal fired power plants off line.
Sure the costs of the technology are high right now for multiple reasons, the first being it is in the experimental stages currently but even if it is nowhere near as cheap as the energy produced here in the US from the major stations...but if global warming is true(i have my opinion on it but i won't bother you people with that) then every technology should be looked at in order to reduce the temperature of the planet no matter how costly.
Plus that little bit of extra force per step it robs from the human body will help the US's obesity problem.
I wonder if the manufacturing of this thing won't have used way more energy than it'll ever produce in its lifetime.
There's a reason nobody ever made a piezoelectric generator like this even though the science is hundreds of years old, because a simple notepad calculation shows it's not viable.
So Wwhat, do you agree now or what? What exactly in my arguments do you disagree with?
Genius!!! [sarcasm]
How much energy can we steal from unsuspecting walkers before they flip out?
here's a better "free energy" plan:
Why not just install a series of rotary doors with generators attached? To get on the train you'll have to rotate 10 doors 1/2 rotation by pushing with a force of 50N for 2 seconds each...
Finally some sanity has been added to the comments.
Seriously, it's good to see that there are some people who don't believe in this notion of getting something for nothing. Now leeching calories from the general public whilst they go about their daily lives, that's encroaching on Monty Burns territory.
"What do you mean they cost me 10 calories on my daily commute? That's almost 2% of the Big Mac that I paid $2.50 for! Wait, they cost me $.05!"
Looking at the size of that contraption, I take it that sumo wrestlers don't take the subway in Japan. What a waste of all that thundering mass.