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A rail company in Tokyo is powering its ticket machines in a very cool way - by harnessing the energy of those walking by:
For the next two months, the railway company will be using using the vibrations of human footsteps at Tokyo Station to generate up to 100 milliwatts per second per person that walks through. The idea is to be able to generate enough electricity to power the wickets themselves and their display panels regularly.
Link via BoingBoing
Are you sure those units are right? 100 milliwatts per second, per person sounds a bit iffy to me… 100 milliwatts per person is more likely the correct spec. ;)
posted by serra on 10-20-2006 at 9:34 pm