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Design firm aims to turn doors into power sources

By Rain Noe - February 23, 2009

in Object Culture

Fluxxlab is an NYC-based design firm run by partners Jennifer Broutin and Carmen Trudell that focuses on "sustainable energy harvesting, specifically in the form of converting small amounts of human energy into electricity." Their Revolution Door is a simple concept:

By mechanically harvesting a negligible amount of human energy and converting it to a tangible display through the use of a generator, the Revolution Door will directly communicate a single person's contribution to an energy cycle possible through the metabolic relationship between people, technology, and architecture.

While a revolving door is the most obvious and straightforward way to capture energy, Fluxxlab has also developed the Powerslide concept, which captures energy from sliding doors, windows, and even drawers; and the Door Dynamo concept, a door closer (modified with an energy-gathering component) that can be added to any existing door.

Learn more about Fluxxlab projects here.

via sustainable modern

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Woutr

15 years ago

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"greenwashing" id
i agree

they are great & funny ideas !!!!! , but from a sustainable point i'm not convinced.

But still, good tests , maybe they evolve and create other even better designs.....
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Kodjo

15 years ago

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Been there, done that: does not work. A human is not capable generating (a useful amount of) power by opening a door, sorry.
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Bryan

15 years ago

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In theory, the mechanisms required for something like this should not take too much energy to produce. However, on the flip side, I'd like to see what sort of benefit this has. We're producing what, enough energy to light a light bulb? Great for a publicity stunt perhaps, but not enough to make any real difference, especially when you consider the costs of rolling out something like this.

So as a real energy solution, this isn't any help at all. As a publicity stunt perhaps - install this door in your headquarters building and plop a high-profile light bulb cluster in the center of your lobby and use it to proclaim yourself as a green business? Is that the sort of attitude we want to encourage in businesses?
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Gerad

15 years ago

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sweet
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Sherry

15 years ago

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On a lighter side, as a teacher, I couldn't help but have these thoughts after I left the site, I returned to share :)

I see great potential for this source of energy. Put a couple sugared up hyperactive kids in there and weeeeeeeeee.... the sky is the limit....:)
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Rob Podell

15 years ago

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It's this kind of garbage that really discredits truly sustainable design. What is the net impact here? How much energy does it take to produce this, and how long will it take for the door to pay for itself, in terms of total impact? This is a complete waste of resources and yet another example of "greenwashing", where it does more harm than good.
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CF

15 years ago

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Nice to see designers picking up this idea! There's many of them in Europe, and they work fine. I think the Dutch were the first to introduce this idea. Brilliant and by far more 'green' then some of the Greener Gadgets entries.
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