Gettin’ your groove on can actually be good for the environment. At a bar in London, Bar Surya, a unique flooring system allows dancers to generate the power needed to run the air conditioning system. The bar also features recycled materials, such as ground up cell phones and table legs made up of old magazines, but the highlight has to be the floor.
The technology is called piezoelectricity. The floor is made up of crystals which are pressed together as people dance. This creates a current which is ultimately used to power the air conditioning.
How much power is actually created by dancing bar-goers hasn’t been made public, even though it opened two years ago. The bar’s owner, Andrew Charalambous, a.k.a. Dr. Earth, is a maverick environmentalist who believes in flying, driving, and the power of consumer goods. His hope is that his eco-bar will reach young people with its message. “Club culture is the gateway to a younger generation,” he says, adding, “there’s no language more universal than music.”
The last line from an ABC News article about the club’s opening sums it up pretty well:
Few would think that the road to a cleaner environment could involve detours at nightclubs and bars. But for those who prefer clubbing to climate change conferences, this new hot spot may be the most glamorous way to go green.
Photo courtesy of Metrolic. Graphics courtesy of Mail Online.
