What is Digg?122 Comments
- goldfenix, on 10/10/2007, -1/+58Dance Dance Powerstation?
- h3xley, on 10/10/2007, -6/+47***** wordpress.
- deivys, on 10/10/2007, -0/+24I just read the article just fine. To prove it here it is.
How many people does it take to launch the space shuttle? The answer is 84,162,203, all of them taking a single step in a Crowd Farming system developed by MIT students James Graham and Thaddeus Jusczyk. Together, they have proposed the creation of a people powered power plant (an idea similar to human-powered gyms, and sustainable dance clubs), in which people would be generating energy by simple act of walking and moving around.
The Crowd Farm works by turning mechanical energy into electricity. In this proposal, the weight of a person is translated to tiled blocks which be slightly pressed down as people walk past them. A generator embedded inside them would take that small vertical movement and translate it into energy. To prove that their concept works, they created a small stool which when sat on, would power four small LED lights inside it.
Their proposal won first place in a competition held at the Holcim Forum 2007, which focused on the theme of urban competition. Their proposal for the competition involved modelling a train station in Torino, Italy. In it, they succesfully showed the feasibility of their proposal to power large spaces by the movement of large amounts of people. This particular proposal also showed that this system could be used in large events, such as a concert. As more people arrive to the concert, more energy is available to pump out the sound from the speakers. Granted this technology is still years away from being feasible, but some day in the future, that one small step for man, could have been powered by 84 million of us. - N10E, on 10/10/2007, -1/+18Could this mean the birth of an energy conscious Disco floor?
- RetroRufio, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16Surprise! Japan is already way ahead of us...
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/japan_ticket_gates.php - HighCountry1, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16Finally! Some people could actually be worth something!
- Piedramente, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13On another note, heavier people will actually be generating more power.
Global Warming = Solved - Otto, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14Don't blame WordPress for the owner of the sites using cheap crappy shared hosting.
- ShawnHunt, on 10/10/2007, -4/+15Sounds a little like you...
- bdurkin, on 11/06/2007, -0/+9I know a dude that can fly around the world so fast that it will actually turn back time.
- Piedramente, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10If only one could harness the power of all the hot air coming out of this thread
- Poland, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Holy *****, yes.
- cfelde, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Coming up next: The Matrix
- RPS11, on 10/10/2007, -9/+17Downright brilliant! What a fascinating concept with huge opportunities, noble ones at that. Hopefully it doesn’t take too many years to develop and get it to market.
- nyx210, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Maybe instead of people walking across these tiles, you can somehow modify it to allow cars to drive over it. You can put them up at toll booths, drive-thrus, or gas station. Since cars are almost always driving through one of them, why not take advantage of it?
- ostawookiee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+71. Modify the toilet paper dispenser, so when it spins it generates electricity
2. Add laxatives to cafeteria food
3. ???
4. Profit! - technogenius, on 10/10/2007, -13/+20In other words: You had nothing good to say about the article, but wanted the first comment-- so you just blew some lame smoke up everyone's ass?
- ominpotent123, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6"We're not fat! We're high-powered energy machines!"
- SamuelLame, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Close down the comments, we have a winner. I couldn't have said it better myself.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6what are you talking about?
- dorianh49, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5You have the floor, moonwalker. Why don't you tell us about speeding around in your lunar rover?
- compuwarescc, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Driving over a power generator based on pressure means that the car is (essentially) driving uphill -- thereby requiring more fuel to move it, the conversion is guaranteed to lose some power to inefficiency (better to run a generator with gasoline).
Conservation of energy is a bitch, and walking through a room tiled with generators will be too.
I for one, am against getting tired walking across a room as if I'm walking up a very long ramp.
There are plenty of people claiming to come up with one form of "free energy" or another, but just remember that all energy is converted from some other form of energy and try to figure out where it's originating - who or what is paying for that energy? - nextyoyoma, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Well I happen to have WALKED ON THE MOON! TOP THAT!
- skipsandwichdx, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6I'd rather not be robbed of my precious energy by MIT students.
- ronaldb, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4How about reversing that process? Instead of storing it when a person steps on a tile, build it into a shoe, let it store energy in a battery in the shoe, and when you come home, you can take off your shoes and recharge your cellphone with them!
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -7/+11I enjoyed this article when I first dugg it 13 days ago. Glad it has made its way to the front page as another story.
- FeartheKnighted, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Ummmm BS
- iamnos, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4True, it would be comparable to walking up a long ramp. But generally speaking, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Burning a few more calories walking around isn't going to harm the vast majority of us.
- septicmadman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Well, good for you?
- swordedge, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Nooooo, do NOT use this to bring back gasp DISCO!
- Solstice, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Looks like a tripping hazard to me.
- goldfenix, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3What the hell happened to the second half of your comment? Seriously, did a cat start walking on your keyboard or something?
- ltkerr0r, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3The maintenance will probably end up costing more than the energy it is making. At least it is greener though.
- 9a3eedi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Probably got their idea from MJ's Billie Jean music video :P
- Ramble, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3That server went down faster than a green snake up a sugarcane.
- groverblue, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2no, but he could sponsor this same idea applied to highways. Let vehicle motion/gravity generate power for a nearby city.
- gimlik, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2'Dem dare kids over dare at MIT are smart young'ins.
... this is incredible. Everyone in the world should be thankful for the people who figure stuff like this out. - rsilva, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Imagine this concept adapted to an highway, with all those cars passing over the generators...
- pussnuts, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2energy slaves?
- nnolasco, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The Matrix?
- Arctirus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'd generate enough electricity daily to power a small led for 3 minutes.
- pjones, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Google cache: http://72.14.209.104/search?hs=sUq&hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.inhabitat.com%2F2007%2F08%2F13%2Fcrowd-farming-power-your-building-with-human-motion%2F&btnG=Search
- pennvneff, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'm trapped in a glass case of emotion!
- liuite, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1exercise machines that generate energy instead of using energy. turnstiles and revolving doors with generators.
- Cyberdactyl, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1BRILLANT!
- m3mn0n, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1A good use for the world's inmates?
A massive army of jumping monkeys?
Genetically engineered kangaroo-elephants, spliced for jumping excellence? - scbysnx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1maintenance???? things DO break
- DeadlyBrad42, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Did you try telling everyone on Digg? I think that helps the page load.
- swordedge, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Put this in a mall, schools, etc.
- m3mn0n, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1haha... that was worth the keyboard having pepsi spit all over it.
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