An innovative flooring system that generates electricity from
footsteps and which was dreamed-up in Loughborough University's
Design School, last night won its twenty five-year old inventor a
top award at the UK's leading ethical business awards.
Pavegen Systems, whose deceptively simple design flooring system
converts the kinetic energy of footfall into electricity, was
chosen by a committee of influential figures in the sustainable
business committee to win the 'Big Idea' category at the
prestigious Ethical Business Awards, hosted by The Observer
newspaper.
Accepting the £2k award from Chris Murray and Lucy Siegle,
the National Grid's Climate Change Champion for Transmission was
Laurence Kemball-Cook, inventor of the innovative low-carbon energy
solution and CEO of Pavegen Systems, said: "this award will really
open doors for us. We are at a crucial stage as we grow the company
from a start-up into a fully fledged deliverer of renewable energy
solutions, and being under the spotlight means that even more of
our potential partners will appreciate the very real opportunity
that our energy generating paving systems represent for towns and
cities all over the world."
Although only a young company, Pavegen's low-carbon indoor and
outdoor lighting technology has already won an order from Westfield
for its new headline Olympic site in Stratford City - to be the
largest urban shopping centre in Europe. Pavegen is a key element
in helping them to achieve their strict targets for environmental
sustainability. And in December 2010 Simon Langton school in
Canterbury installed the energy-harvesting floor tiles in one of
its busiest corridors.
Pavegen Systems has also won awards from bodies including the
Technology Strategy Board and the Chartered Institute of Builders
and was awarded runner up for Eco-Innovation at the
Salon-Environord EU Conference in Lille.
The current Pavegen paving slab contains a low-energy LED which
lights up, communicating the energy transfer idea to the user but
only consuming around 5 per cent of the energy from each footstep.
The rest of the energy can then be stored in an on-board battery or
diverted to any chosen device. Future applications might include
charging points for electric cars or personal devices such as smart
phones.
Kemball-Cook is keen to exploit his patented technology on roads
and is working on a prototype system that will harvest the energy
from lorries and cars on motorways and in cities to power street
furniture such as lighting and LED information boards.
Loughborough University supported the Pavegen technology in its
infancy through a Student Business award and Kemball-Cook was
presented with a Graduate Enterprise Award last year. Pro Vice
Chancellor for Enterprise, Professor Phill Dickens said: "Pavegen
is an excellent example of how our enterprising students can apply
their skills to address crucial issues like sustainability. I am
delighted to see the company achieve such significant success in
just over a year."