Video from group n° 085

Welcome to the webpage of group 85

The topic we have decided to explore is the following : Our project in "Sustainable Performance" aims to develop and promote a new concept in the field of renewable energy : the human energy. While solar energy, wind energy and biomass are the most developed in this area, a source of energy has not been used: it is the human movement. Indeed, the human creates energy as soon as it moves. Of course, this energy is small on the scale of a man, but if we manage to capture the energy of a whole crowd, it could afford to get a large amount of energy.

Our paper

Nowadays, 85% of the energy resources used on Earth are not renewable ones (oil, coal, natural gas and uranium). These resources were formed some hundred billions of years earlier and are stocked in the ground; their quantities are limited. According to forecasts, these fossil fuel energies’ reserves won’t answer our needs from now to 30 or 50 years. What is more, coming with the world demographic increase, the energy footprint increases too: it doubled in the last 45 years. Forecasts expect 140 billion tons of ore hydrocarbon and biomass to be consumed each year in 2050. That means that 16 tons of natural resources will be used per each habitant a year -knowing that there will be approximatively 9 billion people on Earth.

Facing these issues, how could we improve the way we consume energy so as to avoid a fossil fuel breakdown? What could be a substitute to these fossil fuels resources?

As written above, the global population is growing, which leads to the increase of global energy consumption. What about turning this situation to the Earth advantage by enabling people to create energy thanks to their own bodies?

It’s been years that the question has been raised: how could we transform the energy produced by a human into electricity? Indeed, the average male human, at rest, put out between 100 and 120 watts of energy. To give a general idea, a computer consumes 45 watts, a Nintendo Wii 14 watts and a cellphone consumes more or less 1 watt. For now, converting body heat into electricity enables to produce only a few milliwatts which is good enough for small devices such as watches: (e.g.: Seiko’s Thermic watch continuously runs thanks to the body heat using one microwatt -less than a milliwatt). Let’s analyze the characteristics of turning body heat into electricity. This concept is called thermoelectricity. How does it work? Most of the time it is composed by a small device that conduct and exploit the temperature between two things, and by that, generates electricity. It is called the Seebeck effect. A one square centimeter patch can generate 30 microwatts, the more the patch is big, the bigger will be the amount of power created. But this technology needs to be improve: indeed, if a human cover his body with thermoelectric generators, it could only produce 0,5 Watts maximum, and won’t be comfortable at all. A research about it is then conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy and by the University of California-Berkley.

Now, let’s speak about producing energy from the movements. There are already devices that enable people to create energy from their movements: The We-Bike, a facility that allows to recharge batteries by pedaling, and that we can find in France in the SNCF railway stations since 2013. How does it work? By pedaling the user makes the alternator turning which creates electricity. According to the studies, an adult could produce 30 watts in one hour of pedaling. This idea has been extended to the working place by Andy Welkin et Steeve Blood, two American entrepreneurs that created the “Pedal Power” a device put under the desk of the employees that can now generate power by pedaling while working. People’ steps have also been studied in order to generate energy. It has been tested for example on a Rio de Janeiro’ stadium where smart slabs have been installed under the playing field so as to generate energy when people walk or run on it. In that, the stadium can be lighted only thanks to the players moves. Other systems that turn movements into electricity are studied and there is a huge potential in that field: indeed, humans are energy producers with 97% of effectiveness.

To conclude generating electricity thanks to the human body has a lot of potential for creating an efficient renewable energy and is deeply studied by scientists. This could be a pertinent answer to the problem raised by our team: finding an alternative to non-renewable energies that can’t follow the global consumption in a sustainable way.