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Pavegen To Tap Pedestrians For Power In the UK
An anonymous reader writes "Several years ago Laurence Kembell-Cook unveiled Pavegen floor tiles, which capture kinetic energy from footsteps and convert it to electricity. Now after two years of product testing and picking up a slew of awards across the U.K., Pavegen has received its first commercial order — to light up the new Westfield Stratford City Shopping Centre."
Actually, a softer (energy-absorbing) surface is more comfortable to walk on, provided it doesn't absorb excessive amounts.
The plastic tracks in stadiums are softer than asphalt, which again is softer than concrete. Guess which one people like to run on best?
Some athletes from poor countries practice on alphalt and find they run slower in a stadium. Concrete would be even faster, but it tends to wreck your knees unless you have good shoes, which, again, absorb energy.