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"Crowd Farm" to Collect Energy?
Cain writes to mention that a couple of MIT students would like to harness the mechanical power of large groups of people. "A Crowd Farm in Boston's South Station railway terminal would work like this: 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 lobby. 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."
Because then you'd only get 2 units of energy from every person (on their way in and out). With sliding blocks, you get a unit every step.
Yes.
Lets just "harvest" energy from everyone who works out in the gym. Seems to me that there are a lot of treadmills, stair climbers, etc. that could be modified for some type of benefit.
The energy has to come from somewhere.
The MBTA transit system does not use turnstiles anymore.
Small problem there: Boston South is a commuter and long distance rail terminal primarily, so AFAIK it wouldn't use turnstyles anywhere.