http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/crowdfarm-0725.html
MIT Rules. This article is an interesting read about how two students developed a model to capture energy expended from people walking, or sitting on a stool.
The concept is that in large public spaces where there are hundreds of people walking through it (like a shopping mall), the floor would depress with each step which would somehow generate electricity to power the building. Fascinating.
They also go into other uses, like how it could measure the amount of energy of the crowd at a rock concert, depending on how much shuffling around there is on the floor. I can just imagine it being the equivalent to the audio meter you see where people yell as loud as they can and the meter rises. Do those things even work? Or is there just someone who brings up it slowly and on the final yell he cranks it?
Give it a read. Very interesting.
iplaying: Make this Go on Forever – Snow Patrol (Eyes Open)