Japan: Producing Electricity from Train Station Ticket Gates

Science & Technology (alternative energy)

The East Japan Railway Company (JR-East) is doing research on how to make its train stations more eco-friendly. One of the technologies they are working on is a ticket gate that has piezo elements that would generate electricity as commuters walk through. "R claims that this sort of human-powered electricity generation system may provide a portion of the electricity consumed at train stations in the future. [...] When combined with high-efficiency storage systems, the ticket gate generators can serve as a clean source of supplementary power for the train stations. Busy train stations (and those with large numbers of passengers willing to bounce heavily through the gates) will be able to accumulate a relatively large amount of electricity." It can also be used as a way to know how many people went through the gates. "The system is being tested at the JR-East head office in Shibuya, where it is installed at the entrance to the reception area on the 4th floor. As visitors pass through the gate, a lamp lights up, signifying that electricity has been produced. Testing of the system will continue until August 11." ::Chunichi Shimbun, via ::Japan Railway passengers to generate electricity at train stations