Smart street: London’s Bird Street turns footsteps into electricity, provides clean air - TomoNews
- 7 years ago
LONDON — Bird Street, just off London’s first shopping area Oxford Street in West End, has been transformed into the world’s first smart street with abilities to generate electricity and provide cleaner air.
The street has installed a 10-square meter walkway made with tiles developed by Pavegen. The tiles are equipped with small energy-storing flywheels.
As people step on the tiles, their weight creates a downward force that spins the flywheel, which then converts kinetic energy into electrical energy through electromagnetic induction.
Each tile can convert footsteps into 5 W of electricity. The electricity can be used to power street lamps, speakers and bluetooth transmitters.
The ClearAir bench, developed by Airlabs, has been installed at one end of the street, and filters gases such as nitrogen dioxide and other particles, then delivers the cleaned air while providing a resting area for the pedestrians.
The Pavegen tiles are also installed in Heathrow airport and football pitches in Brazil and Nigeria.
The street has installed a 10-square meter walkway made with tiles developed by Pavegen. The tiles are equipped with small energy-storing flywheels.
As people step on the tiles, their weight creates a downward force that spins the flywheel, which then converts kinetic energy into electrical energy through electromagnetic induction.
Each tile can convert footsteps into 5 W of electricity. The electricity can be used to power street lamps, speakers and bluetooth transmitters.
The ClearAir bench, developed by Airlabs, has been installed at one end of the street, and filters gases such as nitrogen dioxide and other particles, then delivers the cleaned air while providing a resting area for the pedestrians.
The Pavegen tiles are also installed in Heathrow airport and football pitches in Brazil and Nigeria.