Design could harness power of commuters, shoppers or concertgoers
The band takes center stage, the fans surge forward and the sheer power of
the crowd's excitement amplifies the sound of their favorite songs -
providing enough energy, in fact, to move a train.
It could happen in the Crowd Farm, a conceptual design by two graduate
students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that seeks to milk the
mechanical movement of hundreds or thousands of assembled people to produce
electrical power.
In principal, a large-scale version of the setup could harness the
collective energy of commuters bustling toward subway stations, shoppers
marching through mega malls or fans dancing at a rock concert. Already, the
students have shown how the simple act of sitting on a stool can generate
enough power to turn on four LED lights.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20201266/
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