ENERGY FROM HUMAN COMMUTERS
WITHOUT A SINGLE GIANT HAMSTER WHEEL
Stockholm - A Swedish state-owned firm has found a cheap, eco-friendly source of energy to warm one of its offices: body heat from 250 000 commuters steaming through Stockholm's central train station.
Body heat already warms the station itself but the surplus, currently let out in thin air, will be redirected to provide as much as 15 percent of the heating in a planned 4 000 square metre office building, real estate firm Jernhusen said.
"We had a look at it and thought 'We might actually be able to use this'," said Karl Sundholm, project leader at Jernhusen, which also owns the station. "This feels good. Instead of just airing the leftover heat out we try to make use of it."
Jernhusen markets the building as "environment smart" and aims for its energy consumption to be half of what a corresponding building usually is.
The bodily warmth from the central station will be redirected to heat up water. The investment will be around 200 000 Swedish crowns, Sundholm said.
(Reuters)
Body heat already warms the station itself but the surplus, currently let out in thin air, will be redirected to provide as much as 15 percent of the heating in a planned 4 000 square metre office building, real estate firm Jernhusen said.
"We had a look at it and thought 'We might actually be able to use this'," said Karl Sundholm, project leader at Jernhusen, which also owns the station. "This feels good. Instead of just airing the leftover heat out we try to make use of it."
Jernhusen markets the building as "environment smart" and aims for its energy consumption to be half of what a corresponding building usually is.
The bodily warmth from the central station will be redirected to heat up water. The investment will be around 200 000 Swedish crowns, Sundholm said.
(Reuters)
Powering 15% of a building’s energy from body heat seems like a clean, efficient way to conserve energy. And at a reasonable cost, too: 200,000 Swedish crowns equals less than $32,000 (U.S.). So the question is, can this innovation be used on a mass scale wherever large numbers of people gather? In stadiums, shopping malls, or universities, for example?
A big shoutout to the good folks at Jernhusen for thinking outside the box.
No comments:
Post a Comment