Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Las Vegas Gets "Kinetic Tiles" That Power Lights With Foot Traffic (arstechnica.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the pedestrian-power dept.

An anonymous reader quotes Ars Technica: A New York-based startup called EnGoPlanet has installed four streetlights in a plaza off the Las Vegas Strip that are powered exclusively by solar and kinetic energy. The installations aren't mere streetlights though -- they also power a variety of environmental monitors, support video surveillance, and, for the masses, offer USB ports for device charging.

The streetlights are topped by a solar panel crest, and have "kinetic tiles" on the ground below them. These panels reportedly can generate 4 to 8 watts from people walking on them, depending on the pressure of the step. The renewable energy is then collected by a battery for use at night. The solar-plus-kinetic energy design is useful on those rare Vegas days without too much sun -- as long as there is still plenty of foot traffic.

86 comments

  1. older pedestrians die by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    thinking they have passed on

  2. um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That just sounds like slavery with more steps, Rick...

    1. Re:um... by wkwilley2 · · Score: 1

      No no no, they work for each other.

      --
      Have you ever fallen asleep at the keybhanusdiog?
  3. Rare vegas days? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's where this hours arwy. Between Oct and March/April the sun goes down around 5/6 pm and rises around 7/8 am. Clearly whoever wrote this only knows Vegas is in the desert assumes that automatically means there must be a lot of sun and doesn't bother to engage their brain.

    1. Re:Rare vegas days? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Between Oct and March/April the sun goes down around 5/6 pm and rises around 7/8 am

      Sunrise in Las Vegas on March 1 is 6:10am.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    2. Re:Rare vegas days? by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      For the curious, this is one of my favorite resources for checking sunrise and sunset times:

      http://www.sunrisesunset.com/c...

      I'm not sure if it's fully global, but I see UK and Australia on the main page, and have used it for multiple locations in the states.

      The grandparent is definitely confusing Nov-Jan (the darkest of the year) and expanding into fall and spring months that are much closer to 50/50.

      --
      The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
  4. little brother powers big brother by beckett · · Score: 3, Interesting

    i love how the video advert sneaks in "Video Monitoring" as one of the many features that will be powered by humans at about 1:06. However, the use of "smart analytics" as describing a human powered Stingray/IMEI catcher has got to be a first.

    1. Re:little brother powers big brother by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      My first thought about "smart analytics" in this context is gait recognition. Shouldn't be hard to build a profile on you based on the times and places you walk over one of these panels.

    2. Re:little brother powers big brother by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Protip, just keep drinking. Intoxication influences one's gait; if you get progressively more drunk as you move from place to place, they'll have a hard time building that profile.

    3. Re:little brother powers big brother by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      FUCK THIS and FUCK THEM!!!

      You goddamned useless fucking sheeple taking surveillance up your ass and gleefully giving all your money to the elites.
      You are gonna wake up one day and wonder WHY THE FUCK you didn't listen to people warning that you're enslaved.
      NOTHING for you slaves but a bowl of grits and a tin roof, ALL spoils and power for them, NONE for you.

      FIGHT BACK or lose.

    4. Re:little brother powers big brother by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Morpheus: The human body generates more bio-electricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 BTU's of body heat. Combined with a form of fusion, the machines had found all the energy they would ever need. There are fields - endless fields - where human beings are no longer born, we are grown. For the longest time I wouldn't believe it, and then I saw the fields with my own eyes. Watched them liquefy the dead so they could be fed intravenously to the living. And standing there, facing the pure horrifying precision, I came to realize the obviousness of the truth. What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer generated dream world, built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.

  5. Everything old is new again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This just in from 2006...

    Man Power: Pressure Pads Under Pavements Could Generate Electricity From Every Step We Take
    http://www.redorbit.com/news/t...

    1. Re: Everything old is new again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And ten years later there's a product, maybe not the first but definitely not the last.

  6. I'm no physicist but... by mattventura · · Score: 4, Informative

    Conservation of energy? Isn't this just making the pedestrians expend more energy to walk?

    1. Re:I'm no physicist but... by sunking2 · · Score: 1, Funny

      Good thing you aren't a physicist.

    2. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      Not really. It's just stealing from the normal force which the Earth would exert against your feet anyway. So the Earth pushes back less against you (because it's the tiles doing the pushing) and the energy difference is harnessed by the tiles and converted to electrochemical energy. The force you exert on the ground is mg (mass times gravity). That doesn't change if you're standing on a concrete tile or if you're standing on a spring. The work to compress the spring is being done by gravity not you. You're just the mass.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    3. Re:I'm no physicist but... by caseih · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Care to explain? Because he's right. Walkers will have to expend a bit of extra work while walking on these tiles. It might not be much of course, and hardly noticeable to most perhaps. But I'd think it'd be similar to the difference between walking on soft grass or carpet vs pavement or concrete. The latter two surfaces absorb very little of the walking energy.

    4. Re: I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But since you're on a now-compressed spring, you have to fight gravity slightly more to compensate for that delta.

      We'll be able to tell our grandparents that we *actually* has to walk up hill both ways.

    5. Re:I'm no physicist but... by ClickOnThis · · Score: 4, Informative

      I am a physicist, and the OP has a valid point.

      Walking on a sidewalk fitted with these kinetic tiles would feel somewhat similar to walking up a slight incline. The extra expended energy would be modest, but real.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    6. Re:I'm no physicist but... by caseih · · Score: 3, Interesting

      No I don't think so. Work is not done unless there is movement involved. Just standing on the surface represents potential energy but not kinetic. There's no "stealing from the normal force which the Earth would exert." If that was true our energy problems would be over! Clean energy from nothing. The dream of crack pots everywhere.

      It's also not true that gravity provides the energy for a mass compressed by gravity on a spring. Gravity can only work with the potential energy that was imparted by work to the mass. In other words it still takes energy to lift the mass up and place it on the spring, which is then compressed by gravity. There's no free lunch here.

      Have you ever walked or run on a concrete sidewalk vs soft grass? There's even a difference between, albeit slight, between walking on pavement and concrete. There's a small but distinguishable difference in the amount of energy it takes to walk or even ride on the different surfaces. The kinetic tiles would be similar. The energy they generate comes from our stride, so that means our bodies have to work just a tiny bit harder.

    7. Re:I'm no physicist but... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Funny

      Walking on a sidewalk fitted with these kinetic tiles would feel somewhat similar to walking up a slight incline.

      I've seen the people walking around Las Vegas. They could stand a little extra exercise.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    8. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yea, pedestrians who are in Vegas guzzling extra calories in the form of alcohol. That extra energy would have either gone to the persons gut resulting in all the expenses associated with obesity, or been run off at the gym.

    9. Re:I'm no physicist but... by v1 · · Score: 1

      Indeed, same thing happens with these roadways they're trying to use to power stuff like ice indicators and traffic displays. That energy's gotta come from somewhere. Either it's hitting up your MPG or is making your walk more tiring.

      I bet it's quite noticeable on a bicycle too. And pushing that baby stroller just got more fun. But on the upside, it'll probably reduce the number of posers flying by on their longboards and rollerblades.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    10. Re:I'm no physicist but... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      The only reason I could see for such tiles would be if walking on them were somehow friendlier to people with leg injuries, dodgy knees etc. That would have been a better reason than something that can be fixed with a simple length of wire attached to the grid, with a solar panel elsewhere.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    11. Re:I'm no physicist but... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      In other words if the place had soft carpet and replaced it with these tiles, the energy expended would be the same. Probably nosier though.

      Maybe they could sell them as fitness devices too, like those shoes that put you off balance deliberately.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    12. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's worse than that. This is someone stealing energy from people (it comes from the food I bought, it's mine!), and using that stolen energy to power a surveillance to spy on them. How is that OK?

    13. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We had these in Brighton, UK last winter and I think maybe the winter before that as well. It doesn't feel like walking uphill, it just feels a little squishy underfoot. It's barely noticeable.

      Even if it does expend more energy, it's better for the environment and people's health for that energy to come from humans than traditional energy sources.

    14. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its not better. While the amounts of energy we are talking about are minuscule, so its not even really worth it. Lets assume the entire world was covered in this tech. Your day would consume a measurable amount more energy to do the same thing. This means you need to eat more food. This food must be raised by farmers, so farmers will need to farm more land. This means running more diesel powered farm equipment and dumping more fertilizer on the ground. Then that food must be processed, sent to market, etc. Hardly a "green" process and is provably worse for the environment than just connecting to the grid or some other efficient energy generation system.

      This is the same idiotic idea that "rounding up" your purchase into a savings account "creates" money for you. No, it just shifts around a bunch of small things that you don't notice into a bigger thing that is noticeable. That doesn't mean all your small unnoticeable actions don't still add up and must eventually reconcile (more food in one scenario and higher spending in the other) and the infrastructure to run the whole system means the world actually loses efficiency.

    15. Re: I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm curious. What does "round up" your purchase into a saving account mean?

    16. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. No humans anywhere that is buying "Kinetic tiles" are eating food because they need energy to walk. The humans are eating food because it's delicious.

      Humans eat to an equilibrium, eating results in stored fat, which makes the human need more resting energy as well as more energy to move, so if you eat say, 10% more energy than you really needed, you just get fatter until it balances out. But that's not an "efficiency" of any sort, it's arbitrary, it's moved by how much the human wants to eat, making it slightly more effort to walk, with "Kinetic tiles" will just reduce the mass at which the equilibrium is reached, nothing more.

    17. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      That is in no way a bad thing. I think most people in the US could do with a little bit more energy expended.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    18. Re: I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bank account that watches for debit transactions. When one is found, the cents portion is set to zero and 1 is added to the dollar portion. A credit line is then generated for the original amount for the person you are paying, and a second credit line is created for your savings account for the difference.

      In other words, if you spend $20.15 at super duper mart on debit, you see $21 leave your chequing account. $20.15 going to super duper mart, and $0.85 going to your savings account.

    19. Re:I'm no physicist but... by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      The problem is that they'll eat more to compensate. And food energy is terribly inefficient.

    20. Re:I'm no physicist but... by sunking2 · · Score: 1

      No, its not a valid point. You assume the energy comes from having to work harder. If it were to require more energy going in then that would be a characteristic of the material used and has nothing to do with conservation of energy. The Earth in the end is the energy 'ground'. This simply takes some of that energy and directs it into a device that converts it to electricity before it eventually makes it way to ground. That's called....Conservation of Energy....

    21. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      Honestly, I doubt it. Not in the US. Not really anyway to know without a controlled experiment, but my gut feeling would be that most people would eat the same. Especially in a place like Vegas where tourists will eat to gorge themselves, not eat to meet a daily-burn energy requirement.

      People in the West don't eat to meet energy requirements, they eat because they enjoy eating and they get hungry. Most of us overeat to some degree, or at least eat more than we really need to. I doubt an ever so slight increase in our overall energy expenditure will lead to more food being eaten.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    22. Re:I'm no physicist but... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      While what you say is mostly true, it's more comfortable to walk on surfaces that have a small amount of give. The human walking motion is far less efficient than a wheel (obviously, or people would be able to walk as fast as they can cycle for the same amount of effort) and a big chunk of the wasted energy is in the backwards force. This is dissipated by heating the ground or your joints (and wearing away the cartilage in your knee, in particular).

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    23. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck all that! In Trump America there will be a coal-fired power plant on every block, so no one will need these so called alternative power supplies.

      But I wanted a TACO TRUCK!!!!

    24. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Waste of energy.

      The foot panel portion of this was a PR move. TFA says they generate 4 to 8 watts. More energy was used to make and install the foot panels than they will ever produce. They are not economical. Installing them gets media exposure, and that is all they are good for. This is really just some lights with solar panels. But no one writes about something as boring as that.

    25. Re:I'm no physicist but... by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      From TFA:

      These panels reportedly can generate 4 to 8 watts from people walking on them, depending on the pressure of the step

      Harnessing the power of American Obesity. Take THAT you scrawny furriners!

    26. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Wargames · · Score: 1

      What if the sidewalks have a slight downward slope?

      --
      -- Each tock of the Planck clock is a new world and here we are still life. --
    27. Re:I'm no physicist but... by ferret4 · · Score: 1

      someone upvote this for hilarity :-) (and for the pendants - it's not wrong, but unless you're in an escher drawing you've got to go back uphill some day)

    28. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am a physicist, and the OP has a valid point.

      Walking on a sidewalk fitted with these kinetic tiles would feel somewhat similar to walking up a slight incline. The extra expended energy would be modest, but real.

      Better get a refund on your physics degree -- the snarky uninformative poster is right. Specifically, conservation of energy is not relevant to whether or not these tiles are harder to walk on than hard ground. Tiles could be constructed that take energy from footsteps while *also* making it easier to walk and also being easier on your foot and joints. This is because some of the energy that would be dissipated into the foot and joints could instead be captured as electrical and potential energy. The ground would then feel springy, which could help you walk (although from personal experience, this works best for running).

      Of course, for efficient walking the springiness of the tiles would have to be tuned to a specific weight and gait, or some monstrously complicated system to adjust the tiles to the specific person walking on them.

    29. Re:I'm no physicist but... by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      +1 funny for you and the GP. Thanks for the improvement!

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    30. Re:I'm no physicist but... by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      You have a point about springiness of the tiles vs. walking uphill (sloppiness on my part) but the snarky poster is not correct. Conservation of energy is relevant here, and always.

      Tiles could be constructed that take energy from footsteps while *also* making it easier to walk and also being easier on your foot and joints.

      No, because Second Law of Thermodynamics. Anything that takes energy from your body will cause work to be done by your foot and joints. If it becomes "easier" for your foot and joints, then you have recovered the energy that your foot and joints conveyed into the mechanical system.

      This is because some of the energy that would be dissipated into the foot and joints could instead be captured as electrical and potential energy. The ground would then feel springy, which could help you walk (although from personal experience, this works best for running).

      If that energy is recovered with this springiness so as to "help you walk" then it is not captured by the energy-harvesting tiles.

      The law that entropy always increases holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations — then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation — well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation. -- Sir Arthur Eddingon

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    31. Re:I'm no physicist but... by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      Tiles could be constructed that take energy from footsteps while *also* making it easier to walk and also being easier on your foot and joints.

      No, because Second Law of Thermodynamics. Anything that takes energy from your body will cause work to be done by your foot and joints. If it becomes "easier" for your foot and joints, then you have recovered the energy that your foot and joints conveyed into the mechanical system.

      Gaah, sorry. I meant the First law. You can't get more energy out of the system than you put into it. Getting energy from your walking and making it easier for you to walk would do that.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    32. Re:I'm no physicist but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Care to explain? Because he's right. Walkers will have to expend a bit of extra work while walking on these tiles. It might not be much of course, and hardly noticeable to most perhaps. But I'd think it'd be similar to the difference between walking on soft grass or carpet vs pavement or concrete. The latter two surfaces absorb very little of the walking energy.

      No, he's not right, at all. Your response is a solid reminder /. is no longer a place for intellectual conversation. You honestly suggested the material one walks on affects how much energy is spent. If someone wants to walk harder to keep up a pace on sand, they can expend more energy, but the amount of energy to move your leg up and down is not affected.

  7. Progress by ChrisMaple · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pretty soon now we'll reach the middle of the 19th century, and we'll have treadle powered sewing machines.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    1. Re: Progress by bestweasel · · Score: 1

      Yes but they'll be wireless treadle sewing machines with LEDs and USB ports.

    2. Re: Progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope, these sidewalk panels are very different from those, they don't move on you. They stay in place.

      The energy is from directions that you don't notice, unless you are in structural work, or doing something very sensitive to vibrations.

      Or underneath somebody dancing while trying to sleep.

    3. Re: Progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > Nope, these sidewalk panels are very different from those, they don't move on you. They stay in place.

      They are extracting power from these tiles. Power is the rate of doing work. 'Work' in physics is a force moving through a distance.

      """In physics, a force is said to do work if, when acting there is a displacement of the point of application in the direction of the force. For example, when a ball is held above the ground and then dropped, the work done on the ball as it falls is equal to the weight of the ball (a force) multiplied by the distance to the ground (a displacement)."""

      If there is no displacement then there is no work being done and thus no power being generated.

      ie: you are wrong.

      The distance may be quite small and could be in any direction (for example horizontal), but regardless of how it works it will require more effort to walk on it than walking on an unmovable surface. If the movement is horizontal then each step will move you slightly less distance so you will have to take more steps, if vertical then you will have to step upwards slightly like walking up a slight incline.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28physics%29
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_%28physics%29

    4. Re: Progress by MMC+Monster · · Score: 2

      [...]Or underneath somebody dancing while trying to sleep.

      This is Vegas. If someone over you is dancing, you just paid $20 and probably not looking forward to a nap.

      --
      Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
    5. Re:Progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Treadle powered laptops!! Actually doesn't sound like a terrible idea...

  8. I guess the Matrix was right... by glennrrr · · Score: 1

    ...if human beings are an efficient source of energy for electronics.

    1. Re:I guess the Matrix was right... by glenebob · · Score: 1

      That's kind of the point. We most certainly are not an efficient source of energy.

    2. Re:I guess the Matrix was right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed, 4-8 W for 1 panel is about 1 cent/day worth of electricity at the average commercial electricity rate in Las Vegas. I wouldn't be surprised if these panels cost more in energy to make than the energy they produce in their lifetime.

    3. Re:I guess the Matrix was right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed, 4-8 W for 1 panel is about 1 cent/day worth of electricity at the average commercial electricity rate in Las Vegas. I wouldn't be surprised if these panels cost more in energy to make than the energy they produce in their lifetime.

      From the article "Each footstep can create 4 to 8 watts" so if 5k people walk over this tile in a day you are talking 20KW to 40KW of power being generated and Vegas on the strip gets a lot of foot traffic.

    4. Re:I guess the Matrix was right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed, 4-8 W for 1 panel is about 1 cent/day worth of electricity at the average commercial electricity rate in Las Vegas. I wouldn't be surprised if these panels cost more in energy to make than the energy they produce in their lifetime.

      And as long as you're repeating the same tired old negativism, don't forget to mention that the sun goes goes down, too.

      Parent post sponsored by Exxon, Corp.

    5. Re:I guess the Matrix was right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The quote "Each footstep can create 4 to 8 watts" doesn't make much sense as "watt" is a unit of power, not energy. If you assume that 6W are being produced for the duration of the footstep, then the amount of energy produced is abysmal. If you're generous and assume that 6W are being continuously produced, then at the end of one day you've accumulated 0.144 kWh, which is an amount of energy worth 1.2 cent.

    6. Re:I guess the Matrix was right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Each footstep can create 4 to 8 watts"

      No... Fucking... Chance...

    7. Re:I guess the Matrix was right... by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      "Each footstep can create 4 to 8 watts"

      No... Fucking... Chance...

      You'd be surprised.

      Let's assume a person with a mass of 80 kg sinks 0.5 cm into one of the tiles every 0.5 s. Then the energy conveyed to the tile is mgh = 80 kg * 9.8 m/s^2 * 0.005 m = 3.92 kg*m/s^2 = about 4 joules. At a walking pace of 1/0.5s, that corresponds to about 4/0.5 = 8 watts. Allowing for inefficiencies up to 50%, you get the 4 to 8 watt figure in TFA.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  9. Ever walked on a trampoline? by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Have you ever walked on trampoline or any other springed surface? It makes it harder to walk.

    Since you like to use the physics terms, it's all about potential energy. Prior to stepping on the pad, you have a certain amount potential energy due to your altitude. Stepping on the pad, you go DOWN. That's a loss of energy, you have to exert effort to return back up where you started. That's the energy powering the electric stuff, it takes potential energy from pedestrians, requiring them to step up slightly to get off the pad.

    Fortunately, a little bit of padding is more comfortable than concrete, even though it takes more energy.

    1. Re:Ever walked on a trampoline? by BitterOak · · Score: 1

      Have you ever walked on trampoline or any other springed surface? It makes it harder to walk.

      Actually, a springy surface is easy to walk on cause the springs return the energy back to you when you lift your feet. An energy absorbing material would be more like walking on sand, which is very difficult cause as you compress the sand when you walk, the energy is converted to heat and wasted. Try running on a sandy beach, and you'll see what I mean. I imagine walking on this sort of floor will be somewhat like walking on sand: very tiring.

      --
      If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
    2. Re: Ever walked on a trampoline? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sand is hard to walk on because of a lack of resilience and stability.

      That is straining. These panels so not exhibit such behavior. You can watch the video.

      This is just the energy that would go into the panel itself being recovered.

      Think of it as regenerative brakes. Instead of getting hot brakes, you keep some of the energy.

    3. Re: Ever walked on a trampoline? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they don't deflect slightly when you step on them, there's no way they can capture energy. If they do deflect slightly, the pedestrian has to step UP to the next tile ever so slightly.

      It seems "free" because, to each individual, they don't identify the 0.5% "energy tax" (or, whatever it is) - they just get exhausted a little earlier and, eventually, go back to their room at 2:50 AM instead of 3 AM . Once the casino owners grok that they are losing ten minutes of gambling per day, per patron, due to this the experiment will be terminated.

    4. Re: Ever walked on a trampoline? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is just the energy that would go into the panel itself being recovered.

      Sorry for repeating myself, but this is what is happening.

      It isn't a new tax, not that your number is anything but nonsense, just the same one already existing being put to a purpose.

  10. Be stupid OR a dick, not a stupid dick by raymorris · · Score: 1

    I can tolerate someone being a dick. I don't mind when people are clueless. But when you're clueless, don't be a dick. Here's the physics explanation for you, since you clearly never passed Physics 101:

    https://hardware.slashdot.org/...

  11. Foot powered video surveillance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..but unfortunately sarge, all the surveillance footage stopped abruptly after the gunman shouted "Nobody move"

  12. Solar Roadways? by JBMcB · · Score: 1

    You mean, if you put solar panels high and angle them TOWARDS the sun, they work better? And they don't get all smashed and dirty?

    That's so crazy it just might work!

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
  13. Is weight a factor? by Dave+Emami · · Score: 1

    Do heavier people generate more power when walking on these? Maybe those buffets we have here will serve an extra purpose now.

    --

    "The Greens lynched a hacker in Chicago. Last month, but I think the body's still hanging from the old Water Tower."
  14. Been done before by AxeTheMax · · Score: 1
    https://www.ovoenergy.com/blog...

    and many others, even if maybe they miss out what seems to be this scheme's USP, adding solar power to it.

  15. Shooting themselves in the foot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unless they violate the laws of physics, these will be harder to walk on than regular tiles. A tired gambler generates less revenue. Even if it's not enough to make you that much more tired, it'll take something out of your step and possibly cause you to move in ways that make your feet hurt. An old, tired gambler with sore feet might actually generate *negative* revenue if he decides to sue. These are some of their best customers. I wouldn't mess around with it. I'd just install solar/battery and be done with it.

  16. Fat surges by Mats+Svensson · · Score: 1

    Better have some mighty current limiters installed, if Americans are going to walk on them.

  17. Sigh always a pointless gimmick in these by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

    8 watts from the kinetic

    http://www.instructables.com/i...

    There you go garbage 1 watt panel. How much anyone want to bet that 8 nice panels and batteries are far cheaper than these ?

    And for people who have never been to Vegas walking is not how how you want to get around, unless you are real fond of heat stroke.

  18. Depends by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    "These panels reportedly can generate 4 to 8 watts from people walking on them, depending on the pressure of the step. "

    That's for tourists, for real Americans it's more like 16-18 watts.

  19. Yes but... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    The amount of power they're taking is very small, it's not over the whole sidewalk, and anyway there's a clever way to turn it into a virtue; if you make it a bit springy and only collect some of the energy then it will feel rewarding instead of sapping.

    If you actually did the whole sidewalk you could take less power than people's shoes waste in heat due to compression and still run your LED streetlights... Like the other comments have pointed out, there's plenty of mass to work with there

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:Yes but... by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      The amount of power they're taking is very small

      In that case, you could easily run the streetlights with solar panels. Or, for that matter, a simple power cable buried under the sidewalk.

    2. Re:Yes but... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I agree that this is not really someplace this is needed. It's an easy place to test it, because of the quantity of foot traffic. It seems like it would be more useful in parks, rest stops and the like.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  20. Another FRAUD like Pavegen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google Pavegen. This is a massive waste of public money.
    How many watt HOURS does the average panel generate in its lifetime, and how much does the panel cost?
    This just shows how incredibly stupid whoever made the decision to buy these things was - or that they received a BRIBE to buy them...

  21. Economic viability? by sjbe · · Score: 1

    A New York-based startup called EnGoPlanet has installed four streetlights in a plaza off the Las Vegas Strip that are powered exclusively by solar and kinetic energy. The installations aren't mere streetlights though -- they also power a variety of environmental monitors, support video surveillance, and, for the masses, offer USB ports for device charging.

    While this sounds like a neat technical proof-of-concept, I cannot imagine that it would be economically viable for an application like this. The tiles would have to be be impossibly cheap for this to cost even close to the cost of grid power. I could see potential uses for the technology (emergency power comes to mind) but this particular application doesn't seem optimum. Might be a great way to prove the concept though and test it in a heavy utilization environment.

  22. Government tax break for Buffets by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

    Las Vegas should now give a tax break for the all you can eat buffets.

    The tiles produce more energy the more pressure (bigger the lardarse stepping on it). Fat people = more electricity. All those Vegas mega-buffets are now helping power the city. Vegas should give them a tax break.

    Oh, and who said Obesity was a strain on the economy- obesity is fighting back and producing more electricity.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  23. ...freaking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kinetic freaking roadways !

  24. Depending on the pressure of the step? by cogeek · · Score: 1

    No wonder they've been fattening up Americans for so long... We really are just a power source for the Matrix.

  25. Re: Ever jumpedon a trampoline? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have you ever walked on trampoline or any other springed surface? It makes it harder to walk.

    Try jumping on one. That reveals how much easier it is to jump on one.

    It is harder to walk because you aren't used to the experience. It is contrary to your body's memory.

    So you lose familiarity and like someone who doesn't know what they doing, you find it harder since your reactions are wrong.

    Man, people are so full of shit on this.

  26. For a healthier by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Matrix