Green Blogging

I was excited to read in the Observer Magzine green column about a new product called pavegen.  This is a new sort of paving slab, which can store and use the energy from the people walking over it.  The idea is that this will power street lighting, illuminated displays and the like.

Unfortunately the website www.pavegensystems.com is not particularly informative, and the statement that it has “global patent protection for its technology and law firms on a retainer basis looking for violations” strikes a rather sour note.  Which is inevitably picked up by commentators to the online version of Lucy Siegle’s observer article, some of whom also question whether the technology will actually work.

Hopefully however it will work out and be taken up.  The Observer article says

Urban planners and architects can’t get enough of the clever design (the paving stones can easily be retrofitted into pavements), and at trade shows well-shod design professionals can be seen queuing up for their turn to bound across the Pavegen surface (they are made from 100% recycled car tyres) and watch each one light up.

The statement about urban planners etc not getting enough is pooh poohed by the commentators, but if it is modestly priced and brings down local authority power bills, it could be very useful.  It seems that the product is in the final states of testing, to make sure it can stand up to the sort of vigorous use it can expect if the slabs are sited in busy areas.

The inventor, Laurence Kemball-Cook (24) hopes that the product will go global

“I can imagine Pavegen in more remote areas of India, for instance,” he says. “There’s huge footfall there, but where there is power it’s polluting, fossil-fuel energy. This could be transformative.”

It is also very good news to hear that the slabs are made of re-cycled car tyres.  This could finally be a way of getting rid of those used car tyre mountains.

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