Japan Rail stations to gather electricity from footsteps
From Japan Today:
TOKYO — East Japan Railway Co on Monday began testing a device embedded in a floor that generates electricity using the vibrations from people stepping on it to pass through ticket gates. Using the “energy of rush hour,” JR East plans to supply electricity to operate automatic ticket gates or information displays in the future, according to the railway operator.
The device was placed at six of the eight ticket gates at the Marunouchi North Ticket Gate of Tokyo Station and testing began at 4 a.m. when the gate opened. About 70 to 100 milliwatts is generated when a person passes through a ticket gate. Even if the device is placed at all ticket gates in Tokyo Station, which sees about 700,000 passengers a day, the output will only be about 70 kilowatt — enough to light a 100-watt electrical light bulb for roughly 10 minutes.
Not exactly a lot of electricity, but it’s the thought that counts.
