Crowd Farm

Two MIT graduate students, Thaddeus Jusczyk and James Graham have come up with an idea to use human movement to generate energy. Their system, which they have named Crowd Farm involves using a sub floor made up of blocks that depress slightly when stepped on. The movement of the blocks against each other would generate power. The idea is to use this type of flooring in high foot traffic areas such as train stations or concert halls. The students demonstrated the idea at the Venice Biennale and at a train station in Torino with a stool that generates energy when people sit on it. The students won 1st prize for their proposal at the Holcim Foundation's Sustainable Construction competition this year.