Inhabitat » SUSTAINABLE DANCE CLUB

March 6, 2007

SUSTAINABLE DANCE CLUB

by Emily Pilloton

It’s probably safe to say that few of us have used the phrases “dance club” and “renewable energy” in the same sentence. Enter the Sustainable Dance Club, a downright awesome project that turns fancy footwork into kilowatts to power the club’s basic utilities. The brainchild of environmental organization Enviu and Dutch architectural firm Döll, the Sustainable Dance Club project launched with a party called The Critical Mass last October in Rotterdam. So next time you’re out dancing with friends, don’t forget that all that booty shaking could be providing power for the club’s lights, speakers, and more. Check out the video to see just how the technology works.

18 Responses to “SUSTAINABLE DANCE CLUB”

Mel Says:

March 6th, 2007 at 6:59 pm

Great idea. Now I won’t feel as guilty about spending time at the club! The waste output it totally unneccessary.

uwe haack Says:

March 6th, 2007 at 8:10 pm

cool idea! 1 club uses per year 600 Mwh electricity, 800 m² water and 375 Mwh propaan for 3 clubnights a week.

brian chickencoup Says:

March 7th, 2007 at 4:04 am

wow no way.
it’s cute, and as an art piece is absolutely amazing.

tho i don’t buy that it is any kind of ’sustainable’ solution.
i don’t believe humans can exert enough energy to support a club and piezo electric crystal elements are not cheap and plentiful nor efficient electricity producers. as art i call it stellar, but as an engineering project i call it half-baked. i’d love to be wrong though. and it’s great for raising awareness and expanding our way of thinking.
very cool either way.

Tim Says:

March 7th, 2007 at 5:24 am

Anyone notice that “ad” was for Toyota?

Ryan Says:

March 7th, 2007 at 10:51 am

They’d better make sure they have reputable electricians or else all that dancing really could set the roof, the roof, the roof on fire.

I’m sorry, that was awful.

mahalie Says:

March 7th, 2007 at 9:41 pm

Couldn’t you use the same concept on roads? Seems like you’d get more out of it since cars are so much heavier…there must be some material that would both support the load as necessary and flex just enough.

I agree with b.c. - very cool as an art piece and awareness builder.

Ryan Says:

March 8th, 2007 at 12:30 am

I read a discussion about roads generating electricity from cars running over it. It might’ve been on here. But the end result is that you’d need things the size of speed bumps to generate electricity. For some reason it wouldn’t work on a smaller scale, and of course you can’t cover roads with speed bumps.

lauren d Says:

March 8th, 2007 at 8:25 pm

From the little I know about piezoelectricity, minor physical deformations in the crystals can generate a lot of current, but I’m unclear about the force necessary to make those deformations. Maybe I’ll do some more exploring, because the above-stated necessity of huge speed bumps on the roads doesn’t correlate with people dancing on a sprung floor and thus powering the party.

I had brainstormed about the road power generation with a friend, and heard of a british engineering company that was looking into it, but forget the name. Regardless, I think using the organic, food-fueled power of people dancing (or riding bikes) to make electricity is one thing, creating extra resistance on fossil fueled cars to make electricity doesn’t seem like such a smart plan.

On the optimistic side, quartz - an abundant material - exhibits some of the most powerful piezoelectricity. I read on wikipedia that DARPA is looking into using piezoelectric generators in soldier’s boots to power field equipment. It’d be nice to turn that technology to civil service…

RemyC Says:

March 11th, 2007 at 9:22 pm

Wish we had that at Wetlands!!!

Neal Turley Says:

March 13th, 2007 at 6:34 pm

We should take this out to the beach….with a solar powered stage

Alton Janelle IV Says:

March 18th, 2007 at 9:52 pm

This is a very interesting posting here. I designed a modular sustainable flooring called the HexStep for my thesis project back in 2006. I’m glad to see that my idea is catching on! A very cool feeling indeed!

Dreamer D Says:

March 18th, 2007 at 11:22 pm

In keeping with optimism, I think this is such an exciting concept. Who knows where it could lead. All you super brains keep thinking, you have my full support!

Lale Says:

March 21st, 2007 at 3:42 am

Hey, thanks for this post. What an interesting concept. Clubbing isn’t my thing but it really jumped out at me, and I showed it to a classmate who’s in the Japanese underground music scene, and he thought it was great.

Joe Says:

April 15th, 2007 at 12:39 am

Google Yusuke Obuchi, wave garden. He brings this idea to the waves of the ocean. The concept is amazing!

Hannah* Says:

April 25th, 2007 at 9:08 am

I read about this back in October & have been harping on about it ever since, I think it’s amazing & would love to help/see it bought to the uk*

Jay Walsh Says:

July 18th, 2007 at 12:10 pm

On a lighter note:

The Static Electric House
See PSA video
http://www.ase.org/content/article/detail/1010

Sincerely,

Jay

Meir Gilady Says:

August 4th, 2007 at 6:52 am

http://www.yourgreeknews.com/070626/
Watch this Greek company is building the technology for road energy

PARK HYOSUN Says:

May 2nd, 2008 at 2:33 am

We are preparing a project with LG Corp. and Dong-Guk University which are our sponsors. We want to research on how human-power has become more common like you and ask your opinion about human-power it in your life.

I would like to introduce myself.
My name is Park Hyo-sun, a senior student at Dong-Guk University (SEOUL, South Korea), majoring in Business Management.
We are planning to visit you at the end of August and stay for 2 weeks. The schedule can be flexible for your schedule.
If you allow us to visit your company, we will greatly appreciate it.

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

Please note that gratuitous links to your site are viewed as spam and may result in removed comments.