asianpacific Posted July 9, 2005 Report Posted July 9, 2005 Hi people... Im doing a project for environmental conservation... My group has come to a decision of using people's daily 'exercise' as a form of energy eg. walking, running, working out... Simple actions as such can be converted to electrical energy... other alternative forms of energy that exist in the world would be HEP, solar energy, and wind energy... So to protect the environment and to decrease the amount of fossil fuels being dug out a year... Why not you play a part by using yourself as a source of energy... Why not attach a device to your shoes that can produce energy while you walk... and then use this energy stored to power up your house... firstly, you save up on utility bills and secondly, and more importantly, you are saving the environment... I would like to hear your views about this... Just tell me whether you agree or disagree and why... Many thanks... Quote
Jay-qu Posted July 9, 2005 Report Posted July 9, 2005 haha, havent heard of any technologies that would slip nicly into my shoe and then power my house... without making my shoes really heavy, my views -> im sceptic Quote
asianpacific Posted July 9, 2005 Author Report Posted July 9, 2005 well... i guess this has not been invented before... im not sure it will work either... but i believe with nanotechnology, nothin is impossible... but do u think its feasible?? Quote
Jay-qu Posted July 9, 2005 Report Posted July 9, 2005 define feasible... if by feasible you mean can u generate enough energy with your body to power your house, than no. nanotechnologies can make things smaller, but not impossibles possible... Quote
Tormod Posted July 9, 2005 Report Posted July 9, 2005 Sounds like a stone age version of the Matrix. Quote
coldcreation Posted July 9, 2005 Report Posted July 9, 2005 ...using yourself as a source of energy... Why not attach a device to your shoes that can produce energy while you walk... and then use this energy stored to power up your house... firstly, you save up on utility bills and secondly, and more importantly, you are saving the environment... I would like to hear your views about this... Just tell me whether you agree or disagree and why... You sound just like Cryogenic. He got ax-canned quick. It sounds like you got yourself a T.O.E. Your problem is basic. You put more energy into the system than can be extracted. It's not worth it. Just like cold fusion (if it were even possible), just like extracting ZPE, or the Casimir force, or current hydrogen new energy processes. Energy has a 'g' in it (revise your title). Stick with solar or wind power. Or your gone with the wind just like cryo... Quote
Turtle Posted July 9, 2005 Report Posted July 9, 2005 ___I have thought of the device-in-the-shoe too; I think I saw somewhere that a guy has made one. I had more in mind using it for camping trips than powering the house though.___The problem I see is that it's just a transfer & not a savings. Just as Jay-qu says, the shoe is heavier & this means more effort to lift the foot & this means more calories burned & this means you must consume more food & this means you must grow more food & again this means using more energy.___As your initial intent is environmental conservation, it seems to me simply using less energy is the way to conserve. Do we really need blenders, electric toothbrushes, battery operated toys, etc. I think not. You have more when you use less. :) Quote
Dave_mathews Posted July 9, 2005 Report Posted July 9, 2005 Hi all....That new form energy u can attach to your shoe .....i believeis a an induction coil .............Sliding a bar magnet back and forrththru a coil of wire will produce EMF . *:) Quote
UncleAl Posted July 9, 2005 Report Posted July 9, 2005 I'm doing a project for environmental conservation...You could do a project on Scientific Socialism or the Keebler elves. Doesn't mean it has anything to do with the real world. Converting food calories into electricity is insanely bad. Food calories are the most expensive, least efficient energy available. You'd never put back the energy used to create and distribute the collection infrastructure Cf: Kilkenny cats. Photosynthesis is very optimistically equivalent to producing 15 bbl/day-mile^2 of diesel fuel while ignoring all energy inputs. Area necessary to generate 1 GW electrical, theoretical minimum:biomass 1000 mi^2 wind 300 mi^2 solar 60 mi^2nuclear 0.3 mi^2 http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug01/corn-basedethanol.hrs.htmlhttp://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Saccharum_officinarum.html One reason the Third World is such a craphole is because Enviro-whinerism doesn't know anything about thermodynamics or engineering. Generation varies with volume, losses vary with area. Centralized bigger is way better. Connect gym equipment to generators. It's still silly, but at least you cut your up-front losses. Quote
Jay-qu Posted July 10, 2005 Report Posted July 10, 2005 Hi all....That new form energy u can attach to your shoe .....i believeis a an induction coil .............Sliding a bar magnet back and forrththru a coil of wire will produce EMF . *:) yeah... i have a torch powered by it - a torch! not my house... Quote
infamous Posted July 10, 2005 Report Posted July 10, 2005 I would like to hear your views about this... Just tell me whether you agree or disagree and why... Many thanks...Your idea will not recover enough energy to power a house but, it could power such things as flash lights, watchs, cell phones, ect. This concept could have some impact if these devices were placed under freeways to extract energy from the motion of automobiles riding over them. The drawback would be the up front cost of such a project however. Quote
asianpacific Posted July 10, 2005 Author Report Posted July 10, 2005 hi guys... thx for your replies.. just to let you know im only in high school and really require your guidance to make my project a succes... okay... firstly, how much energy can a body produce in an hour??.. secondly, if it cant charge the house, then what can it charge?? handphones, mp3s, pagers??... lastly, i feel that with nano-tech, it wouldnt be so heavy... i mean.. how much can it weigh... the most is that the shoe's weight can be reduced ritez?? Quote
Jay-qu Posted July 10, 2005 Report Posted July 10, 2005 ok it goes like this - the only way i know of to produce current from movement is via induction, induction requires a magnet to pass through a coil (well just change the flux in the coil, because it can spin). To produce max current you need a strong magnet and lots of coils of wire. SO if you actually want to do this, bottom line find a small, strong and light magnet then find some light current carring wire and coil it as many times as can fit in your shoe. Also you are going to have to hook up some electronics so that your current goes somewhere eg battery charger, a light Quote
Turtle Posted July 10, 2005 Report Posted July 10, 2005 ___Can you say piezo-electric? Here is a link to a shoe-power scheme from MIT:http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~nate/shoes.html___These boots just keep on walkin'... :) Quote
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