JUN 28

Swedish Designer Eddi Törnberg has designed the best human-powered work station we've seen yet because unlike other concepts that require you to do things like ride a bike while you're working, it doesn't require a person to do anything more than sit and work. The project, called "Unplugged," powers the various gadgets we use to work -- laptops, lamps, etc --through our small constant movements and body heat.

The desk chair is equipped with a metal seat that gets hot as a person emits body heat, but the underside stays cools through a pattern of metal fins. Electricity is produced through the Seebeck Effect where an electric charge is created when a material is hot or warm on one side, but cool on the other.

The other energy-harvesting part of this set up is a rug that lies under the desk that is outfitted with piezoelectric crystals that generate electricity when pressure is applied to them. Each random shuffle, stomp, and rolling back and forth of the chair is a source of electricity.

The final part of Unplugged is plant-powered rather than human-powered. A potted plant provides electrcity through a process similar to a potato battery.

Unplugged is definitely more of a concept than a working product, but if this set-up were put to use, it could generate a nice chunk, though probably not all, of the energy needed to get through the workday.

via The Atlantic Cities

Images via Eddi Törnberg

Comments (11)

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Without numbers, this is just sillyness
written by jesse lackey, June 28, 2012

"more of a concept than a working product" indeed. I cannot imagine the temperature differential between human butts and ambient air (air conditioned air?) can create more than a miniscule amount of power. Until measured generated watts (likely, milliwats) are published, this is an art piece. Ecogeek: if you want to be taken seriously, refrain from utter speculation like "it could generate a nice chunk, though probably not all" based on ZERO actual engineering data.

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Hold on there!
written by Graham Weddebrurn, June 29, 2012

Hi Jesse,

I completely agree with you however there'd still be a saving. So long as that saving more than offsets the cost of creation/installation then it's win-win

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OPEN YOUR EYES PEOPLE!
written by Theodore Baskind, June 29, 2012

the comment about ecogeek not being taken seriously just rubs me wrong. Without an imagination NONE of our spectacular inventions would have come to fruition. The comment that Lackey wrote is what is wrong with the majority of the American public. Keep the blinders on pal, life will be easier for you...

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not blinders, it's called applied knowledge
written by jesse lackey, June 30, 2012

To mr. baskind - the majority of the american public does not have the science background to understand the physics behind why this installation is an art piece and will not be practical. As a degreed EE with 20 years of experience as a solopreneur, I do. Instead of lumping me in with "what is wrong with the majority of the american public" please provide the cost/benefit analysis and estimation of percentage of power created vs. consumed in an office setting to show everyone how this will be practical, and you can even specify technologies that don't yet exist. I can imagine many awesome spectacular things that will never work. Success is knowing the difference and executing on it.
My gripe is simply the original comment that this "could generate a nice chunk" of the power required in a typical office setting with zero backing data. It does a disservice to everyone who is working on smart grid technologies (one of my current client projects, in in-home display of real-time smart meter data) that actually will (slowly) change the world, because the the nonscientific people who read articles like this may believe that our energy consumption can be somehow magically offset/reduced by a clever little thing they don't understand.

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piezo electricity is a force to be partnered with
written by Alan Greenspan, July 01, 2012

http://www.piezo.com/

something the size of half a dollar bill can charge 400ma . Imagine that x 50 for a floor mat and it could most likely charge a laptop(by recharging a battery constantly that feeds the laptop obviously.

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...
written by Jocelyn , July 02, 2012

It is an interesting idea. I do hope they continue there research and gain some hard data for everyone to see. Until then I don't think anyone can say if its something we can use to help make changes or not. We will simply have to wait and see

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written by John Rudmin, July 02, 2012

The "Seebeck effect": See Beck sit. See Beck squirm. See Beck power the entire firm!

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What about other energy sources
written by MrFoo, July 04, 2012

I don't believe that there is sufficient passive energy release from a human to power much at all. Take their body heat away and they will feel cold, absorb energy from our movement and we will feel constrained by the feel of the chair (it would naturally resist our motion in converting the our kinetic energy into electrical energy).

The chair would probably make more energy outright if it could harvest farts and pass the methane to a fuel cell.

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Mr
written by Joe Power, August 06, 2012

Surely farting would increase the heat level on the chair and so that would make more power - making bad office smells more common - so then pegs may have to be worn daily?

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Positive feedback system
written by miscon, August 31, 2012

If the output of the piezo transducers were connected back to their inputs, they would start to flex of their own accord. This is the way to make endless energy from a simple office rug. This technology might lead to rug powered flight, rug powered toilets and rug powered automobiles.

We should thank Ecogeek for bringing us its unique flavour of imaginative ignorance and pre-school science.

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written by Loving the style, February 22, 2013

Beautiful look - reminds me of Damian Hirst Pharmacy in its clarity and focus on function, which in itself is a post-modern nod toward the style that underpins it.

Cool innovation too.

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