Comments for A Workspace Powered by Sitting at http://ecogeek.org , comment 1 to 11 out of 11 comments http://ecogeek.org Thu, 23 May 2013 18:20:18 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://ecogeek.org/human-powered/3790-a-workspace-powered-by-sitting#comment-47922 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. - Loving the style Fri, 22 Feb 2013 10:22:44 +0100 http://ecogeek.org/human-powered/3790-a-workspace-powered-by-sitting#comment-47170 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. - miscon Fri, 31 Aug 2012 06:16:34 +0100 http://ecogeek.org/human-powered/3790-a-workspace-powered-by-sitting#comment-47084 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? - Joe Power Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:48:55 +0100 http://ecogeek.org/human-powered/3790-a-workspace-powered-by-sitting#comment-46936 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. - MrFoo Wed, 04 Jul 2012 03:25:02 +0100 http://ecogeek.org/human-powered/3790-a-workspace-powered-by-sitting#comment-46929 The "Seebeck effect": See Beck sit. See Beck squirm. See Beck power the entire firm! - John Rudmin Mon, 02 Jul 2012 08:01:15 +0100 http://ecogeek.org/human-powered/3790-a-workspace-powered-by-sitting#comment-46926 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 - Jocelyn Mon, 02 Jul 2012 01:43:46 +0100 http://ecogeek.org/human-powered/3790-a-workspace-powered-by-sitting#comment-46924 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. - Alan Greenspan Sun, 01 Jul 2012 02:32:06 +0100 http://ecogeek.org/human-powered/3790-a-workspace-powered-by-sitting#comment-46920 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. - jesse lackey Sat, 30 Jun 2012 01:01:09 +0100 http://ecogeek.org/human-powered/3790-a-workspace-powered-by-sitting#comment-46918 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... - Theodore Baskind Fri, 29 Jun 2012 11:27:52 +0100 http://ecogeek.org/human-powered/3790-a-workspace-powered-by-sitting#comment-46916 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 ;D - Graham Weddebrurn Fri, 29 Jun 2012 07:12:19 +0100 http://ecogeek.org/human-powered/3790-a-workspace-powered-by-sitting#comment-46913 "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. - jesse lackey Thu, 28 Jun 2012 18:11:42 +0100