Next generation power source reliant on people power

Forget wind, wave or bio-fuels - the next source of power generation could come from something much closer to home - you.

The Millennium Bridge famously swayed when it was first constructed – now scientists want to design structures that harness the motion of people and turn it into electricity

Two students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed new technology that could harvest the energy of human movement and turn it into a source of electricity.

The so-called “Crowd Farm” - envisioned by James Graham and Thaddeus Jusczyk - took first place in the Japan-based Holcim Foundation’s Sustainable Construction competition.

The prototype “Crowd Farm” was designed to be installed at a railway station. A responsive sub-flooring system made up of blocks that depress slightly under the force of human steps would be installed beneath the station’s main concourse. The slippage of the blocks against one another as people walked would generate power through the principle of the dynamo, a device that converts the energy of motion into that of an electric current.

Graham said: “Our intention was to think of it not as a high-tech mat that would be laid down somewhere, but to really integrate it into a new sort of building system.”

The Crowd Farm is not intended for home use. According to Graham and Jusczyk, a single human step can only power two 60W light bulbs for one flickering second. But get a crowd in motion, multiply that single step by 28,527 steps, for example, and the result is enough energy to power a moving train for one second.

This dynamo-floor principle could also be applied to capturing energy in any situation where large groups of people move - places like rock concerts - suggest Jusczyk. “Greater movement of people could make the music louder,” he said.