Energy is where you find it. Or something like that.
In Rotterdam in the Netherlands, a company called Sustainable Dance Club has opened Club Watt, a huge performance space with a sustainable energy dance floor, rainwater-fed toilets, low waste bars (everything is recycled) and heat that is harvested from the amplifiers and other musical equipment.
The experimental dance floor harvests the energy created by people jumping around and converts it to electricity. The average person’s dancing creates about 20 watts, so two people could light a light bulb. It is the clubbing equivalent to driving a hybrid. Aryan Tielemen, the club’s owner, says energy use will be reduced by 30% and water use by 50% compared to the space’s previous tenant.
The costs of creating the dance floor will are not likely to be recouped since it is a first generation model and is not as efficient as it will be after some real world testing and modification, but think of the other possible permutations of this technology: gyms, fitness centers, railroad or subway platforms, sidewalks.
According to their website, “Doing your part for the environment doesn’t have to be boring, and you don’t have to stop doing the things you love.”
