Development & Aid, Environment, Tierramerica

When the Electricity Is in Your Feet

DÜSSELDORF, Germany, Oct 20 2008 (IPS) - “To change the world doesn't mean you can't have fun,” says the entrepreneur who sells dance floors that generate electricity from the movement of the dancers' feet.

The wind and the sun produce energy — this is something we all know. Alternative sources of electricity are high on the world's energy agenda. Now there is a way to produce electricity by dancing.

That has been happening for the past few weeks at the Watt dance club in Rotterdam, in western Netherlands.

The dancers move to the rhythm of the music on a dance floor made from panels that also move up and down — no more than one centimeter — depending on the movement and weight of the dancer.

The motion of the surface activates a system of specially designed dynamos, located under the floor, which transform the mechanical energy of the dancers' movements into electrical energy.

That electricity is used to illuminate the panels of the dance floor and a column that indicates the level of energy produced by the people dancing.

“Our objective was to create something that would really work, and would be perceived as such, and which would show the dynamic relationship between the body of the person dancing, the floor and the other dancers,” Daan Roosegaarde, one of the floor designers, told Tierramérica.

One person dancing generates an estimated 10 watts. The floor at Watt has a capacity for 150 dancers.

“This is not just talking and talking about protecting the environment, (but) doing something about it,” says one regular at Watt, a man with glasses, long hair and dressed in green.

Around 70 percent of the people who regularly go to dance clubs expressed willingness to support initiatives to protect the environment, according to a survey by the Sustainable Dance Club company (SDC), which has participated in development the product and is responsible for sales.

Every weekend, some 10,000 young people head to the dance clubs in Rotterdam, considered “the Dutch capital of discos.”

The original idea for an electricity-generating dance floor came from a group of students, who were later joined by architects, designers, entrepreneurs and engineers from the universities of Delft and Eindhoven.

After two years of work and private investment of nearly 7.4 million dollars, and some 402,000 dollars from the city of Rotterdam, the project made its debut in September.

The dance club with the electrical name was the first to install the floor, but the SDC says it has received requests from all around the world. “Probably our next destinations will be New York and Berlin. It's the technology of the future,” enthusiastic company director Michel Smit told Tierramérica.

A similar project — but on a smaller scale — was launched in a London dance club.

Watt claims to be “the first sustainable disco” and is aiming to reduce its other energy consumption 30 percent and water consumption by 50 percent, as well as cutting its garbage production in half, based on the average of similar establishments.

The proposals include restrooms that use rainwater, urinals that use an oily film instead of water, a bar that offers drinks in glasses made from recyclable materials and wine from casks instead of bottles, and low-energy LED lighting.

“It's the first time that sustainability and lifestyle are combined in this way,” said Smit.

“We believe that changing the world doesn't mean you can't have fun,” he added, summarizing the company's philosophy.

The initiative has been generally welcomed by environmental activists, because beyond the marketing goals these technologies can have, they help increase ecological awareness in a sector that is traditionally a voracious consumer of electricity. A dance club uses an estimated 150 times more energy than an average household.

“If one is strict about it, the discos shouldn't even exist, but it is also true that because young people get together, have fun and dance, this is the best way to do it,” Carsten Jasner, of the environmental group Greenpeace, said in a conversation with Tierramérica.

“This initiative could be compared with the situation of photovoltaic solar energy 30 years ago: few believed in it, and it didn't generate much electricity, but today it's importance is clear,” added Jasner, who visited Rotterdam to see Watt for himself.

In the future, the technology could be used for surfaces where there is a high volume of foot traffic, such as shopping centers, train stations or airports. Beginning next year the “sustainable floor” will be on sale — for about 4,000 dollars per square meter.