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Harnessing the pounding feet

The whole idea of environmentally friendly clubbing may seem ridiculous to those of us who do their bit for the planet by not clubbing, but what if these hundreds of thousands of vaguely dispiriting evenings out could be used to generate power? Would it not give the clubber’s lifestyle some kind of, well, purpose?

It may sound unlikely, but a new eco-club opening in London in July claims it will feature a dance floor capable of harnessing the pounding of punters’ feet. “Such a dance floor could generate about 60 per cent of the building’s energy,” says Andrew Charalambous, club owner, donor to the U.K.’s Conservative Party and head of an organisation called Club4Climate.

The idea itself is not so far-fetched — a nightclub in Rotterdam with an “electrofloor” is planning to open this year — although producing 60 per cent of the nightclub’s electricity from party-power alone may be a tall order. The technology involves building a sprung floor over blocks made from piezoelectric crystals, which produce current when subjected to pressure.

Go out, stay in, do whatever you want. But if you’re not giving something back to the national grid, you’re not pulling your weight. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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