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The average nightclub, with sound systems pumping and lights blazing three times a week, consumes 150 times more energy than a four-person family every year, according to Enviu, an environmental non-profit organization that’s bringing green design to the dance floor—literally. The Netherlands-based group’s research into sustainable partying has yielded plans for the world’s first eco-club, which will use some fancy physics footwork to pump its dancers’ energy back in to the house.
When clubbers press down on the spring-loaded floor, it dips about 2 cm and activates a flywheel, which starts to capture the kinetic energy of their bumping and grinding and convert it to electricity, similar to the electro-mechanical process of a handcrank or bicycle-back LED light. In fact, an early version of the floor used the stored to power bright LEDs under tiles of the glass surface (at least 11 watts each) and let testers see sustainability in action. But the ultimate goal is to lose that gimmick and feed the main power grid of a club, says Michel Smit, general director of the Sustainable Dance Club project. Although the floor may never be able to power an entire club by itself, he added, its design could pave the way for the power-sucking nightlife industry to shore up its heating and cooling systems; Enviu even wants to convert dancer’s sweat so it can flush a club’s toilets.
The floor is still a prototype, but Enviu has already been contracted to build and install it at a Rotterdam club. A portable, tile-by-tile version of the floor coming out next spring will encourage promoters to try it before they buy it, with parts running between $100 and $200 per square meter.
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