Scrap tyres Used to Make Energy-Generating Pavements
We love to hear about new uses for old tyres and this one is streets ahead!
An emerging new company called Pavegen has just installed squares of energy-generating pavement in east London made out of recycled car tyres, stainless steel and recycled aluminum.
It also includes a lamp embedded in the pavement which lights up every time a foot touches it to show that it is harnessing kinetic energy.
But here’s the point – each time someone steps on the slab the energy is converted into energy which is transmitted to streetlights and other electronics located close by.
Alternatively, the kinetic energy, created by 5 millimetres of flex in the material, can also be stored by lithium polymer batteries contained within the paving.
Launched in July of this year, the company spun out of a project at Loughborough University and is actively looking for investors.
The average square of pavement produces about 2.1 watts of electricity. And according to Pavegen, any one square of pavement in a high-foot traffic area can see 50,000 steps a day.
Based on this data, only five units of Pavegen pavement can be enough to keep the lights on at a bus stop all night.
The company, led by 24-year old founder Laurence Kemball-Cook, says it eventually wants its slabs to power automatic doors, ticket machines, neon signs, and even computers and major appliances.
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