Next week the annual IDTechEx Energy Harvesting & Storage event will open in Munich to attendees from 20 countries. The event focuses on the diverse range of energy harvesting and storage technologies, their application and opportunities. The technology is of vital interest to industries as diverse as consumer goods and electronics, the built environment, process control, vehicles, textiles and healthcare. It is enabling and satisfying the need for microgeneration of energy which will become a necessary part in everyone's lives over the coming years.
To bring the topic alive there will be many demonstrations (some World first) at the event. BMW will be displaying one of their diesel engines with a thermal energy harvester attached to different parts of it, to generate power from waste heat. POWERleap is a product development company making flooring that harvests energy from pedestrians to generate usable electricity. In high-traffic spaces like airport terminals and train stations, this technology offsets power consumption of electronic displays, lighting, and more. In locations of changing occupancy like corporate offices and parking garages, the flooring powers embedded wireless transmitters to save energy and track data. At the IDTechEx conference, POWERleap will be demonstrating the full spectrum of their capabilities and offerings.
Similarly, the company Sustainable Dance Club will show the Sustainable Dance Floor (SDF) that they have developed. It was launched in the market in 2008 as the world's first energy generating floor. It is now used as eyecatcher for sustainable innovation at many events and exhibitions, ranging from a pavilion for renewable energy at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver to use in a campaign to present a new electric car at the Paris Auto show. The Technical University of Munich will demonstrate piezoelectric energy harvesters arranged underneath the parquet floor, powering lighting on the floor. Keep your eyes open and feet active to take part in the future to energy harvesting!
Opalio will show a bi-stable flexible display embedded into a flag that is powered from a flexible solar cell on the reverse side of the flag. In addition, many exhibitors will show energy harvesters applied to and powering wireless sensors.
