What is Digg?121 Comments
- liquidjamm, on 02/02/2008, -2/+46lool nice try - are you tying to sell me stairs?
:) - loveddevol, on 02/02/2008, -2/+34DDR anyone?
- ky4ep, on 02/02/2008, -4/+27Imagine a self-powered escalator (considering people walk on it)
- skags, on 02/02/2008, -0/+21I like escalators cause they will never break. They will only become stairs.
-Mitch Hedberg - qwertydvorak, on 02/02/2008, -0/+14it actually works like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hta73V0_h3U
- elnerdo, on 02/02/2008, -0/+12Worse, actually. It sounds more like a Stairmaster.
- Chairboy, on 02/02/2008, -0/+11Oh great, yet another excuse for robots to chase us.
- rmxz, on 02/02/2008, -0/+10But it's not. Walking on a sandy beach - and on a floor that flexes more - is harder (=== takes more energy) than one that doesn't suck energy.
- aywwts4, on 02/02/2008, -0/+9Wasting it? so when I step down sparks shoot out of my feet? and we are just harvesting this otherwise wasted energy?
From the article... "The bricks would sink slightly under the weight of the people walking above them, and the motion of the bricks sliding against one another would generate power, the students said."
I'm afraid not, When I step my foot stops sure some energy is wasted, the (weight of a leg falling 2 inches) but this is talking about a sidewalk that yields under your weight, the next step I would then be trudging uphill slightly, Have you ever walked in sand? This would make the user Work to not only propel themselves, but lift themselves out of the constantly shifting sidewalk which is generating energy with your weight. - wannapiece, on 02/02/2008, -0/+8Titles That Capitalize The First Letter Of Every Word
- MacEnvy, on 02/02/2008, -0/+8Psh. Well, I've lost interest.
- IronPwnage, on 02/02/2008, -9/+17except we aren't going to be using more energy. Just taking the energy that's already there and using it for something, rather than wasting it.
- inactive, on 02/02/2008, -0/+7I have a serious question here...how come no one has made a bike light that is powered by the bike? Now, I don't mean the old fashioned friction generator that you pushed up against the back tire. Those were awful. Ruined your tire, and took a LOT of energy.
I am thinking more along the lines of what they do with bike speedometers now. They have a small maget that you attach to the fork, and them another that you put on the spokes. That reads how many revolutions you make, and based on your tires circumference, your speed.
But, what if you replaced the one fairly weak magnet on your spoke with 10 stronger magnets, 1 where each spoke comes together. Use that to create enough to power a 3 or 5 LED bulb. I don't feel like doing the caluclations, but I know I get my tires moving faster than I can crank a typcial LED flashlight, and that keeps it going.
My guess is that the main reason why no one has done it is because there is no real need to do it. Getting a battery powered LED headlight is cheap enough, and lasts something like 20-30 hours in 2 AAA batteries. But am I missing something? I haven't exactly taken a class in this in over a decade, but it seems simple enough. - anamanaman, on 02/02/2008, -0/+7Want to save electricity? Pass a law banning escalators. Might even make a dent in the obesity epidemic. It also requires no investment.
Sure it might be fascism. But its liberal fascism so its ok. - elnerdo, on 02/02/2008, -1/+7It's a pretty dumb idea, because walking is pretty efficient. You wouldn't be capturing wasted energy. You would just be forcing people to spend more energy when walking. Walking on the proposed 'sinking bricks' would be like walking in sand.
- DrDragun, on 02/02/2008, -1/+6IIRC I have to pedal damned hard on the exercise bike to hit 150W (equivalent to 2 incandescent bulbs or about 5 CFL bulbs).
Considering the relatively poor efficiency of capture here, I'm sorry but I don't see this making a huge difference in a city's power demands. Maybe 2-5%. - maino82, on 02/02/2008, -3/+82-5% is huge when you think about how much power a city consumes, but even that i think might be optimistic at this point. still, to be able to light public areas just by the energy of the crowd gathered there would be better than nothing. every little bit helps.
- inactive, on 02/02/2008, -1/+5Here is another example of total *****. File this with the other "inventions" under the wacky nice try but no cigar category. This whole alternative energy nonsense reminds me of those old commercials from the 1950's and 1960's for everything from xray glasses to converting a bw tv to color. Lets be realistic in our thinking and start using logic and rationalization when planning for the future energy requirements of the country. Nuclear and later on fusion are the only ones that are reliable and viable.
- VelvetoneFusion, on 02/02/2008, -0/+4Sorry for the convenience.
- Audacitor, on 02/02/2008, -0/+4The bricks don't move up and down that far. Maybe a millimeter or two. No big deal.
- Dantetheinferno, on 02/02/2008, -0/+4No, because fat people don't go anywhere, so they'd never produce power :).
- antdude, on 02/02/2008, -0/+4And dance clubs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzb3VFi3Sew
- Rahodeb, on 02/02/2008, -0/+4until you factor in the installation and maintenance costs. The would probably never even break even.
- Brad324, on 02/02/2008, -3/+7well that was gay
- vladkov, on 02/02/2008, -0/+4If you follow that idea, you get nowhere.
- walshan22, on 02/02/2008, -3/+6"we'll be expending more than gaining"... Wow, that describes the US economy perfectly!
- londubh, on 02/02/2008, -0/+3why not harvest ***** energy from those $20 and hour hotel beds?
- krnldmp, on 02/02/2008, -1/+4Why the need for a law? Just switch the ***** things off. You're right. You'd already be way ahead of this flaky ass "invention".
- scotticus, on 02/02/2008, -0/+3I've always wondered why the cycles in spin classes aren't hooked up to generators.
Not that I know anything about spin classes... just seems like a good idea. - inactive, on 02/02/2008, -2/+5But what about the amount of energy required to create technologies such as these? Or the amount of energy expended when we are dong these activities. At some point, we'll be expending more than gaining.
- inactive, on 02/02/2008, -0/+3Yeah, but all that does is steal energy from cars, and use it less efficiently. This wastes energy really, and really IS stealing from the cars.
- shodanx, on 02/02/2008, -1/+4your mistake was to believe he didn't pull that 2-5% figure out of his ass
- sriel, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2They exist already, lots of new Dutch utility bikes are sold with them. They are very small and integrated in the front axle and they charge a battery so the light keeps shining when you are not moving.
- kylehunt, on 02/02/2008, -1/+3When will we harvest the energy from my farts at night to make my coffee in the morning?
- inactive, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2For it to generate the energy, it HAS to be taking the energy from something. It doesn't create it out of thin air. In this case, it is making the car use more energy that it normally would to drive over that distance. Bascially, if you take two 10 foot stretches of road that are alike in every way except one has this energy "creating" plate on it, your car will use more gas rolling over the energy plate. It HAS to. If I recall correctly, those plates were almost like a foot pedal type device. And that creates extra work for the car to roll over than just regular asphalt. Not a LOt of extra work, but some. And each car rolling over the plate doesn't produce very much energy either. In fact, since some is always lost to friction, et. the amount that it produces is less than what it takes away from the car.
- jabrthel, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2or negative when you consider how much energy is spent on manufacturing and maintaining the machines... it is an interesting idea, but from a practical standpoint I'll hold my excitement for the first person to make viable design for it.
- ChaosMotor, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2Sounds good, but I don't think you can avoid the heat conversion, I think you would just make walking harder. Now, using nanofibers to scavenge heat into electrons might work.
- chewties, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2how did we go from the segway to this.
- aywwts4, on 02/02/2008, -1/+3Why don't bad ideas die?
Figure in to the equation how much this would cost to implement, how many watts of electricity are used to tear up sidwalks and replace them with no doubt expensive sidewalks that can generate little bits of electricity, sometimes, when people are walking on them. Solar and wind takes decades to become profitable, and those actually generate electricity most of the time. instead this is something that would generate power for a a few minutes an hour, or in a stadium, a few hours every few weeks.
Then figure in the problems with the disabled or elderly, while a slightly more challenging walk is nothing to most people, if you are barely getting around the way it is a slightly shifting like walking in sand sidewalk could be the thing that exhausts an old lady on oxygen with her walker. And don't say it wont be more difficult to walk on, allegedly Its energy, the energy has to Come from somewhere, It has to come from your legs. My sidewalks aren't shifting below my legs normally.
Now figure into the equation peak power generation, Power isn't worth anything if it isn't available during peak hours reliably. our power plants don't turn off for the night, they generate enough for a peak, all the time. So even if this was the next cold fusion, having lights that turn on and off every time a train arrives would be useless. This was originaly something that the college kids who thought this thing up originally said could power an LED sign that says 'You are powering this sign" - alittleroy101, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2Not sure why you're being dug down, where the hell else did he get that figure from?
- mzink33, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2It sounds like a fantastic idea, but how long is it going to be before this is cost efficient?
- adooga, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2No it doesn't. And yes you are.
- BarrettAnderson, on 02/02/2008, -1/+3When I walk somewhere, I generally try to take only what I need. That way, I don't have to waste any energy. I would like to choose when I exercise.
Keep in mind everybody that something like this would make it more difficult to walk. Compare it to walking in sand. You get tired much more quickly when you are walking on a beach.
It may not be noticeable, but if that's the case then it's not going to be generating a whole lot of electricity. A better idea would be treadmill generators so that I can have some resistance when I want it. - inactive, on 02/02/2008, -1/+3My favorite reference to the old fashoned generators was the Simpsons episode where Bart is riding his bike to a part in the pre-dawn hours becuase Skinner gave him detention or something to help him find the Big Butt Skinner balloon he launched. (This is the one where he discovers a comet heading to earth) He pushes the generator onto his tire and immediately goes from a nice smooth ride to basically lurching forward with each strenuous pedal, and the light goes on and off as the tire moves slightly each time. That is exactly what those things were like.
I just think that since so many bikers are used to using the magnets for their speedometrs, and so many people are used to crank flashlighs, there might be a market for them. To never have to worry about your batteries wearing out. - inactive, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2 You are correct, if it makes energy it has to take more energy from you to walk on it the form of the sidewalk giving ever so slightly. This whole plan seems ill conceived and not very practical.
- krnldmp, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2Your first two sentences work. Sorry I dugg before reading the rest.
- zspeed78, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2This is retarded.. the energy required to produce, install, maintain, and store the energy is just ridiculous. Energy is not free.. get over it.
- adooga, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2Fart energy to heat beans to make farts and I think we've done it, folks.
- krnldmp, on 02/02/2008, -0/+2You're not getting anywhere near 1% with this.
- rmxz, on 02/02/2008, -12/+14OOOhhh - put this under the roads; and use the power to power electric cars! This gives you a perpetual motion machine [/sarcasm]
For people who forget physics, this energy must come from somewhere -- in The Article's case - from people using more energy when they walk (like walking on sand) -- and therefore eating more -- and that food gets shipped using trucks burning gas -- etc. -
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