Body heat, en francaise
October 8, 2010
When it comes to public transit, Canadians are no strangers to using body heat to keep warm. Hey, it’s a cold climate, our buses don’t always run on time and sharing is just good manners. But if the occasional bus shelter cuddle seems low tech, Parisians are preparing to take the concept into the 21st century with a heating system powered by the bodies of Metro passengers.
Supplemented by existing heating, and fuelled by the heat generated by the trains’ movements, the system would pump body heat from the underground station platforms into an apartment building above. And though the system is currently only designed to heat 17 apartments, and while it’s only been installed because there was already a connecting stairway that could be used to install the event, it’s certainly not taking place in isolation.
Other urban energy projects have been designed to take advantage of the energy we already expend, like plates that absorb the kinetic energy of cars driving through a fast food drive-through, or a hydro generator that draws its power from falling wastewater. And when it comes to energy use, heating is no small matter for a country with its northern half dangling into the Arctic Circle: upwards of 40 per cent of all power consumed in the country goes to our heating needs.
Besides, anyone who’s ever packed themselves into a station in the Montreal Metro has already encountered the powerful combination of body heat and train exhaust. Why shouldn’t we keep our Canuck parts warm with the energy we’ve already got? It definitely beats huddling together for warmth in a bus shelter.
Or does it…?
Drive-through energy
November 19, 2009
The bad news: the Whopper is still bad for you. The good news? All that kinetic energy going to waste when you pull your car through the drive-thru window will be put to good use.
At least, it will be at a Burger King in New Jersey. They’re experimenting with speed bumps that could actually harness enough energy to power half a million homes. Company officials say the energy collected could be routed right into the power grid.
Using a regenerative technology similar to that used in hybrid cars, metal plates in speed bumps are pushed down as a car drives over them. The movement of these plates can create kinetic energy, which translates to as much as 30 kilowatts per hour.
While this doesn’t exactly offset the emissions from either the cars or cows involved, it’s a step in the right experimental direction. The company who developed this prototype, New Energy Technologies, is eager to apply it to busy intersections, toll booths, and any number of other places that cars drive.
In the UK, tests are already underway with similar technology in supermarket parking lots and residential speed bumps. The collected energy is used to power nearby traffic and street lights, but could also be stored or fed into the local power grid.
Some have criticized Burger King for attempting to “greenwash” an unhealthy and ecologically unfriendly habit. But if people are driving their cars for a quick burger anyway, generating electricity from that is still bonus. Provided, of course, you don’t look the gift cow in the mouth.
