Crossrail will generate electricity using the wind created by trains

crossrail train

LONDON -

Charlotte Slingsby and her startup Moya Power are researching piezo-electric textiles that gain energy from movement. It seems logical that Slingsby originally came from a city with a reputation for being windy: “In Cape Town, wind is an energy source that you cannot ignore,” says the 27-year-old, who now lives in London.

Thanks to her home city, she also knows about power failures. That’s why she came up with the idea of not only harnessing wind as an alternative energy source by setting up wind farms in the countryside or at sea, but also for capturing it in cities using existing infrastructure.

 

The problem

The United Nations estimates that by 2050, two thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. As a result, the demand for energy in urban areas will increase dramatically. Can the old infrastructure grow fast enough to meet demand? How might we decentralise power generation, moving it closer to the residents who need it?

For a pilot project, she has already installed grids of lamellae-covered plastic sheets in tunnels on London Crossrail routes; the draft in the tube causes the protrusions to flutter, which then generates electricity.

“If we all live in cities that need electricity, we need to look for new, creative ways to generate it,” says Slingsby, who studied design and engineering at Imperial College and the Royal College of Art. “I wanted to create something that works in different situations and that can be flexibly adapted, whether you live in an urban hut or a high-rise.”

The yield is low compared to traditional wind power plants and is not able to power whole cities, but Slingsby sees Moya Power as just a single element in a mixture of urban energy sources.

In the future, Slingsby’s invention could hang on skyscrapers, in tunnels or on bridges – capturing power in the windiest parts of the city. The grey concrete of tunnels and urban railway cuttings could become our cities’ most visually appealing surfaces...

 

Related News

power grid

Texans to vote on funding to modernize electricity generation

DALLAS - Texans are set to vote on Tuesday on a constitutional amendment to determine whether the state will create a special fund for financing the "construction, maintenance, and modernization of its electric generating facilities."

The energy fund would be administered and used only by the Public Utility Commission of Texas to provide loans and grants to maintain and upgrade electric generating facilities.

The biggest chunk of the fund, $7.2 billion, would go into loans and incentives to build new power-generating facilities in the ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) region.

The proposal, titled Proposition 7, is one of several efforts by lawmakers…

READ MORE
electric cement

Electrifying: New cement makes concrete generate electricity

READ MORE

norwegian energy

Are Norwegian energy firms ‘best in class’ for environmental management?

READ MORE

Gov. Greg Abbott touts Texas power grid's readiness heading into fall, election season

READ MORE

harbour air electric plane

Is this the start of an aviation revolution?

READ MORE