Here’s the description to an interesting idea – an energy producing dance floor. I guess dance club designers are getting savvy:

Fancy Footing

Harnessing human energy doesn’t have to be hard work. A sustainable dance floor at Club WATT in Rotterdam, the Netherlands makes boogieing down synonymous with powering up. Dancers strut their stuff on a sustainable dance floor made of electronics with embedded software components, which move up to a centimeter as feet fall on them. An electric motor converts these movements into electric power. The energy generated lights up the dancing surface, indicating just how “hot” the night is. The technology is available for rentals in the United States. (1)

Such innovations make good use of human energy without making it seem like hard work for occupants. Ideas like these can be a fun way to make more energy efficient and interactive designs. (…just imagine an energy producing gym)

Reference:

(1) Silver, Laura. Hot to Trot. Popular Science. February 24, 2009.

Image Credit: © Vertes Edmond Mihai | Dreamstime