Here's How #Japan Is Turning #Footsteps Into #Electricity

By Samyak Goswami, Aug. 16, 2025 6:15 pm EST

Excerpts: "While Japan's implementation of #piezoelectric tiles is new, the underlying technology itself dates back to the late #19thCentury. The Curie brothers discovered that pressing substances like quartz, topaz, sugarcane, and more induced a voltage across the substance, known as the piezoelectric effect. The converse is also true, as piezoelectric materials also change shape or vibrate when an electric current is passed through them. Due to these properties, piezoelectric substances find use in numerous applications like quartz watches, sonars, and electricity-producing sidewalks. Common kitchen lighters, too, use a piezoelectric material to produce their characteristic spark from the pressure applied to the trigger.

"Piezoelectric substances generally produce a low voltage that depends on various factors. Japan's implementation of the piezoelectric sidewalk generated around 0.1W of power when a 60kg person stepped on a tile, back in 2008. The power from one footstep isn't substantial, but the figure quickly grows when millions of people take a step in crowded places like Tokyo's Shibuya Station. Moreover, the technology has evolved, and more efficient tiles can generate up to 30W of power with each step."

[...]

"The biggest roadblock that has limited piezoelectric tiles to niche applications is the high upfront cost associated with them. The cost depends on their efficiency and can range from $50 to $100. Installing a wide network of such tiles over a large area can quickly shoot up the initial investment. However, research shows that crowded areas such as subway stations are best suited for piezoelectric tiles, despite the high cost. A 2017 research even claimed that these tiles can result in up to 99.93% lower cost of electricity over the tile's lifespan, taking Cairo's busting Elshohadaa station as an example.

"That said, low power output is another big factor that makes piezoelectric tiles economically unfeasible. Conventional renewable energy sources, like solar panels, have evolved over time and can generate more electricity at a much lower cost. Additionally, power generation takes a nosedive in lightly populated areas, restricting the technology to only a few busy spaces. Moreover, higher maintenance costs and frequent repairs due to enormous stress in crowded areas are other factors stopping piezoelectric tiles from becoming mainstream. That said, a high-output tile with greater durability could make its adoption economically feasible in the future."

Read More: https://www.slashgear.com/1937672/how-japan-generating-electricity-with-piezoelectric-sidewalks-explained/

#SolarPunkSunday #SolarPunk #FootTraffic #ElectricityGeneration #19thCenturyTechnology #TechnologyAdaptation

✔️ Telegram Secret Deals Bot for Local Businesses

✨A #Telegram #Bot that anonymously broadcasts exclusive, last-minute discounts and secret deals from local businesses to nearby users, generating instant #FootTraffic and profit.

#LocalDeals #FlashDiscounts #SmallBusiness #CityCommerce #HyperlocalPromotions

Massive SUVs/utes and pedestrian safety regulation

"The U.S. government’s road safety agency wants the auto industry to design new vehicles including increasingly large SUVs and pickup trucks so they reduce pedestrian deaths and injuries."

"The rule would cover all passenger vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less, but it’s is aimed largely at big SUVs and pickups, which have grown in size and hood height over the years, causing blind spots for drivers."

"NHTSA said pedestrian deaths increased 57% from 2013 to 2022, from 4,779 to 7,522. The agency says the rule would save 67 lives per year. Data show that nearly half of all pedestrian deaths when hit by the front of a vehicle are most common for SUVs and trucks."
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https://apnews.com/article/us-pedestrian-safety-rule-suvs-pickup-trucks-8ab66c3416dcb91484ec502d6e114ad1

Utes and SUVs make up entire top 10 in record year of new car sales in Australia
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/04/australia-2023-new-car-sales-record-list-top-utes-suvs-ford-ranger-toyota-hilux
#Cars #SUVs #regulation #pedestrians #FootTraffic #violence #MobilityDesign

One man’s pilgrimage navigating on foot along the Brisbane River
Everything is Water by Simon Cleary

"The shadow a city can cast upon its river before it is no longer a river”.

"He asks whether our urges to categorise and organise might be “unhelpful” and “prevent us from other ways of seeing”."

"It’s something deeper; a bodily recognition and lament at how swiftly white settlement has desecrated and altered a landscape which Indigenous people have cared for so intimately. One of Cleary’s refrains is that what used to be “kangaroo and emu country” is now considered “cattle country”."
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https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jun/06/everything-is-water-by-simon-cleary-review-one-mans-pilgrimage-along-brisbane-river
#rivers #FootTraffic #walking #Australia #Brisbane #Bellingen #SettlerSociety #livestock #Bellinger #water #cattle #Biodiversity #wildlife #platypus

Cars are getting 1cm wider every two years

"New cars have become so big that half of them are too wide to fit in parking spaces designed to the minimum on-street standards, in many countries."

"SUVs drive trend for new cars to grow 1cm wider in UK and EU every two years, says report.Bigger cars more likely to kill people, release more toxic gas and are outgrowing design of cities."

"They argue that the trend towards bigger cars has reduced the space for other road users and increased the danger."
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/22/cars-growing-wider-europe-report

The effect of front-end vehicle height on pedestrian death risk>>
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212012224000017

#TrafficFatalities #SUVs #MEGASUVs #BIG #cars #externalities #pedestrians #deaths #cyclists #FootTraffic #SpatialJustice #MobilityDesign #pollution #climate

Bellingen - Roads to nowhere, Pt.1/2

Scenic Bellingen has been in a road widening frenzy to accommodate industrial logging and clear felling operations to 'get the stuff out of here'. For nearly a year heavy fossil fuel machinery has been making the roads (Roses Road, Gleniffer Road, North Bank Road) fit for an extractivist industry, ignoring residents and biodiverse habitats along the cemented arteries.

In town gigantic haulage trucks (2 B-double trucks) shoot through the bottleneck of the main cafe and shopping district ruining the ambience.

The government, road building and timber extraction nexus robs residents of their homes, eradicates biodiversity habitats and pumps up emissions for all.

Wildlife, residents and tourists are now confronted with a dangerous network of roads where they risk their lives and endure permanent pollution.

To prioritise damaging industries and provide pathways only for them is putting the community at risk.

People want a sustainable environment, they would like to move about in safety without carbon emissions.

Where is the infrastructure for the future?

"Two-thirds of people want more transport funding to go into walking, cycling and public transport....

Bellingen - roads to nowhere pt.2/2
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/110986658766673505
#Walking #cycling #walkability #FootTraffic #Bellingen #RosesRoad #GlenifferRoad #NorthBankRoad #roads #sprawl #infrastructure #CarDependency #FossilFuel #traffic #congestion #speed #pollution #LoggingIndustry #extractivism #BellingenLogging #climate #biodiversity