Environmental Design + Construction - February 2009 - (Page 35)

STUDIO By Derrick Teal, managing editor, ED+C Alternate Alternatives AS SOURCES OF ENERGY LIKE SOLAR, WIND AND GEOTHERMAL CONTINUE TO BE REFINED, OTHER ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES CONTINUE TO BE EXPLORED. Identifying exactly what is going to inspire someone to come up with the next great idea is clearly an inexact science. There are stories about how the simplest of observations spurred such great inventors as Leonardo da Vinci, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. But when it comes to one consistent way of new ideas being formed, perhaps the adage from Plato “necessity is the mother of invention” best fits the bill. If that adage is true, then there’s no better time than now for new methods of supplying energy to the world to emerge. We at ED+C have kept an eye out for alternative sources of energy and have found a few worth sharing. Energy-Generating Revolving Door This little gem came our way during Greenbuild and had us buzzing. Royal Boon Edam Group Holding has developed an energy Energy-Generating Revolving Door generating revolving door for the Driebergen-Zeist railway station in the Netherlands. The TQM revolving door was designed not only to save energy, but also generate energy with every person passing through the door. The revolving door is equipped with a special generator that is driven by the human energy applied to the door, while the generator controls the rotating speed of the door and makes it safer—no doubt to prevent some juvenile editors from trying to see how much energy they can generate and injuring themselves in the process. The ceiling of the revolving door is made of safety glass and gives a clear view of the technology. A set of super capacitors stores the generated energy as a buffer and provides a consistent supply for the low-energy LED lights in the ceiling of the door. In case the LED lights have used up all the stored energy, the control unit will switch to the mains supply of the building. This ensures that the door is illuminated at all times, even when passenger flow is minimal. LED scales inside the door indicate the amount of energy that is generated. When passing through the door at a slow speed, the scale will end up in the red or orange zone, whereas a normal or fast pace pushes the scale into the green zone, indicating that significant electric energy is generated. Another LED indicator at the control unit shows when the illumination of the revolving door is powered by human energy or www.EDCmag.com 35 http://www.EDCmag.com

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Environmental Design + Construction - February 2009 Contents WebTOC Editor's Note Newsline New + Notable Diamonds in the Rough Alternate Alternatives Case Study: Energy Goes to School Product Focus Marketplace + Classifieds Advertiser's Index Parting Shot

Environmental Design + Construction - February 2009

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