Pavegen plans to power the world with footsteps

UK startup Pavegen plans to take its ingenious technology, which turns the kinetic energy from footsteps into electricity, and apply it to many other areas beyond the sidewalk. Mike Butcher visited their London headquarters to learn more about where it's currently installed and the future of using footsteps as a source of power.

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[danieljensen]

How is no one mentioning how awkward it looks that the two guys are like two feet apart and facing each other but blatantly not looking at each other's faces?

[mustafakjswala]

You can also put this tech in keyboards...

[WasserTipps]

What about a jogging path with this technology? You could also do an event where hundreds of people would run a marathon or so and then say how much they produced.

[deneltulloch]

Lool I just thought of this...and then boom..someone on youtude is creating the tech already

[liljasere]

I respect that unlike other similar start ups you are not trying to put it in the roads for obvious reasons, The energy has to come from somewhere so walking on this surface will be more exhausting than walking on a nice hard pavement with no yield not to mention unsettling

[abcd]

I feel like people would take one step on that surface and then decide to walk around it because it feels wobbly (also it is more strenuous to walk on/takes more energy). Also, how much energy are we talking about? How many kilowatt-hours per 1000 steps let’s say?

[flireferret]

I'm pretty sure that if these were put on roads, the cars would waste the amount of energy they created just having to roll from the lowered price they were just on to the next peice, the energy is being taken from somewhere and it's either the energy were using to walk with making it an uncomfortable experience to walk or the energy used to drive with making driving less efficient

[BrettBaker]

Who filmed this? The staging of the subjects is so odd and the camera angles are uncanny. Did you film the interviewer on a green screen? WTF is going on??

[anthonymazzone]

How long will these last before needing repair/replacement? What is the availability of parts, etc? How long will they last in a sandy/dirty environment?

[aleenaprasannan]

This will be great in gyms for aerobic exercises, in bus stops and it can potentially turn school staircases into power mills.
A great alternative in places that have clouded skies frequently or long rainy seasons which could hamper solar energy generation.

[albi_in]

Having this idea in mind for 2 years. And now I found that someone else just executed a year before I was even thinking 🥴

[Tbugfish]

So, the problem with putting these on roads is that the energy has to come from the fuel in the cars. Cars will burn fuel more efficiently on stiff, flat roads, but will lose efficiency the more elastic the road is. So, by putting elastic generators in the roads, you're taking the energy away from cars, making them less efficient. If you want to generate energy from commuting, put these in your shoes. You'll burn more calories than wearing regular shoes, and charge your phone at the same time.

[chimerawizard]

seems interesting, makes me wonder what the $/watt over its lifetime is and how many rare earth materials are required to build them. if it's cheap to build, let's just cover entire buildings with them across all pedestrian walkways. isles, check-out lines, sidewalks.
If it's expensive, let's bribe the company who made this to make their findings public and put a bounty for whoever can make it the most cost effective in 15 years gets 50M USD or something.

[jokermorningstar]

if you´d replace every sidewalkwith this, connect it to a Battery that saves the generated energy. you could use said energy to light the sidewalks at night. this would save so much energy(cost) then make it mandatory for every goverment building to have solar panels

[cybenkencasugbo]

Hi! we found your project very innovative and unique, especially it deals with the conservation of energy in our modern world. As a researcher and a student taking aviation studies from PATTS College of Aeronautics in the Philippines, we would like to ask a permission to use this video in our research as we seek to know its potential in our country specifically the Ninoy Aquino International Airport or the Manila International Airport to sustain a specific airport operation/s. research title is "The potential of pavegen tiles to Ninoy Aquino International Airport towards a more sustainable airport operations". your reply will be very much appreciated! Thank you!

[izzosings]

I live in DC and just saw this in dupont the other day! I was wondering what it was

[AfterDarkM]

I was all for this until I heard retailers tracking pedestrian traffic

[Pumie]

So one can meet friends in town just strolling and say "making money" when they ask "what are you doing here"? Pretty darn cool.

[mdgulamrasool]

Can they even recover the amount of energy it is put into making and installing them.

[StephenLawson]

I had this idea 10 years ago... goddamnit