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| Tuesday, November 18, 2008 |
| Watt a Great Idea! |
I was online with my 84 yr. young father, describing a dance club designed to help save the environment. My father asked “How does that work?” I emailed back that the club was designed with “one of the worlds first energy-generating dance floors,” that lights up with electricity powered by the dancers movements. My father said “what on earth are you talking about?” So I sent him the ‘technical stuff.’ “It’s a dance floor that harvests the energy generated by jumps and gyrations and transforms it into electricity through ‘The Piezoelectric Effect’.”
He thought for a minute and wrote “Watt a shock.” I said “It’s insulated, but how did you know?” He said “know what?” I said “Watt, not what.” He said “exactly.” I said “exactly what?” He said “Who’s on first” I told him to watch the skit on YouTube. My mother told him she remembered tours the electric company offered when I was growing up, and how much my brother and I fought over the little pin they gave out with their logo, a little ‘boy’ named Redi Kilowatt, whose body was drawn in ‘electric’ zig-zag lines! I couldn’t believe she remembered that, and then she said “the old power company is now a movie theatre, and that’s why we have power shortages…”
Next I asked my 4 year old nephew where he would go if he wanted to dance and help save the world at the same time. He said “a Superhero Party, unless there’s girls there.”
If they hadn’t already named it Club Watt, Superhero Party would be a really great name! It would honor the spirit and purpose of a group of “Dutch ecological inventors, engineers, and investors” who met “in 2006 to brainstorm on the eco-club idea. They named their company ‘The Sustainable Dance Club’.” What they developed is simply brilliant. “Our idea is that there’s enough energy in this world, you just have to use it the right way.”
Rotterdam, the Netherlands has three reasons to be at the epicenter for eco-innovation. It has a “booming club scene where young residents have a strong vested interest in controlling global warning.” Geographically, “located at sea level, Rotterdam will be one of the first cities to go under if global ice melted and sea levels rose,” and historically “the Netherlands has reclaimed substantial tracts of territory from the sea, and has gained a reputation for environmental innovation.”
The Sustainable Dance Club realized that the huge things, like “reducing the greenhouse gases, and closing of coal-fired plants” require massive interventions on an international scale. They took their cue from “sustainability experts who emphasize that much of the gain should come from doing the things everyone does now, but in ways that are a bit more efficient and green.”
“Club Watt is part consciousness-raising, part green-energy experiment-and in large part simple entertainment.” The design team took the concept of “performance space” and spent “more than a year” renovating an old space. “Green innovations at the venue will reduce energy use by 50 percent and water use by 30 percent compared with the previous building.” In addition to the “rain-water fed toilets and low-waste bars, everything is recycled”. ‘Green innovations’ are visible, on display throughout the club, but probably showcased best in the dance floor itself. “The better the music, the more people dance, the more electricity comes out of the floor. That electricity is used to power the light show in and around the club.”
How much electricity can dancing people produce? “The energy produced by an average person dancing is about 20 watts worth, so two people could light a bulb.” Multiply that by Club Watts capacity of “almost 1,400 people”, and the Club’s owners “hope the sustainable dance floor will ultimately produce 10 percent of the club’s electricity. As a first-generation model, it is fairly inefficient, but Aryan Teieleman, one of the clubs owners hopes it will attract attention” and provide inspiration for sustainable, renewable energy ideas. People from 4 to 84 understand the need, and want to help save the planet any way they can…except for dancing if there’s girls there.
- Nancy
Labels: Health, Healthy Planet, Nancy
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posted by The Sensei Team @ Tuesday, November 18, 2008   |
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