The Green Sidewalk
July 24, 2012 Leave a comment
At Carbon Voyage, we are always looking for new ways to help save the environment. In effect, there are many ways that we can all lower our carbon ‘footprint’, but what better way than doing it in the greenest and most natural way possible – walking?
(The “PaveGen” pavement slabs. Image taken from http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/13/tech/innovation/pavegen-kinetic-pavements/index.html)
A rather new technology, the green sidewalk, came to my attention recently through our French interns, with the new invention found on sidewalks that are equipped with special slabs and a sensor located underneath. When a pedestrian walks on the slab it sinks a little, creating energy which is collected by the sensor; furthermore, if the slabs are set up in a concentrated pedestrian area, there is the potential to generate a substantial amount of energy. Apparently, each step produces enough energy to light a LED lamp for 30 seconds, and with the average person taking 150 million steps in their lifetime, the ‘green sidewalk’ could really make a big difference.
According to our interns, the slabs are already a common sight in some French cities, such as Toulouse. Intrigued by this almost sci-fi technology, I did a quick Google search on the green sidewalk. Interestingly, the slabs are a British invention and they have been installed between the Olympic Stadium and Westfield Stratford shopping centre. With more than 2 million people flooding into the city for the Olympics, imagine the amount of ‘free energy’ that could be generated this summer.