TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Happy feet: Going green can be fun

Among the 120 exhibits at the green technology exhibition at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in Pozna* is a dance floor that generates electricity, a device that turns fog into potable water, and even hanging vegetable gardens

Stevie Emilia (The Jakarta Post)
Pozna
Tue, December 9, 2008 Published on Dec. 9, 2008 Published on 2008-12-09T11:55:14+07:00

Change text size

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!

Among the 120 exhibits at the green technology exhibition at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in Pozna* is a dance floor that generates electricity, a device that turns fog into potable water, and even hanging vegetable gardens.

Adopting a green lifestyle could be a whole lot of fun. For example you can stop onto the Sustainable Dance Floor that generates electricity, on display at the "Technologies for Climate Protection" exhibition at the ongoing climate change conference in Pozna*, Poland.

Visitors are welcome to dance to electrifying results at the International Pozna* Fairgrounds until Dec. 14.

"Many people have tried it and found out they can help produce electricity while having fun," explains exhibition employee Agnieszka Lampasiak as she dances to demonstrate.

"See, when we dance, this indicator lights up showing the amount of electricity produced."

The invention is one of many creations from Sustainable Dance Club -- a creative enterprise of two Rotterdam-based companies Enviu and Doll-Atelier voor Bouwkunst. The first dance floor of this kind was installed at Rotterdam's Club Watt in the Netherlands last year, according to the company's website (www.sustainabledanceclub.com).

In practice, the floor converts the dancing crowd's movement into electricity and uses this power to change the appearance of the floor's surface. So a crowd of clubbers can literally light up the dance floor, and put power back into the grid as well. Depending on their weight and level of activity, dancers can produce two to 20 watts of power each.

After they installed the Sustainable Dance Floor and other technologies, Club Watt could boast a 30 percent reduction in environmental impact compared with club averages: saving 30 percent in electricity, reducing carbon dioxide and waste emissions by 50 percent and cutting back water consumption by 50 percent.

To meet sustainability standards, apart from the dance floor, the club has also set up zero-waste bars and a water wall.

"In our vision, going out is a part of life," Sustainable Dance Club's website states. "In the short term, we want to reduce impact within the current possibilities. And we keep on innovating.

"In the long term, we are even striving to reduce the negative effects to zero, inspired by *cradle to cradle' methods: waste is being separated into components that are completely recyclable, or completely biologically degradable. We don't want people to stop doing what they like but to do it in the most sustainable way possible."

At the exhibition, inaugurated by Poland's Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki, visitors can view 120 innovative and original sustainable inventions from 20 countries.

"I came up with the idea of organizing this during the previous UN Climate Conference in Bali, though I knew it would be a challenge," the minister said in his opening speech. "We successfully brought in many extremely important technologies for climate protection from all over the world. And we've been able to present them to visitors in an attractive and interactive way."

Last year's UNFCCC host, Indonesia, had organized a clean technology exhibition as part of that conference.

The Pozna* exhibits are organized under five themes: energy saving, renewable energy sources, environment-friendly transport, adaptation to climate change and other projects.

After shaking a leg visitors can peruse exotic inventions typical to specific regions: hanging vegetable gardens from Bangladesh, and fog catchers used on the Cape Verde Islands to capture water from the atmosphere.

Hanging vegetable gardens were introduced by the Coastal Development Partnership to help people living in the chronically flooding coastal regions of Bangladesh keep growing foodstuffs, both during the rainy season and more generally as sea levels continue to rise.

The Cape Verde Islands sit in a subtropical convergence zone and are subject to impact from the Canary current. Residents have to deal with infrequent precipitation and a scarcity of potable water. The fog catcher project helps increase the availability of potable water.

"Among the inventions and new technologies, we are seeing not only complicated and advanced devices but also brilliantly simple solutions, some even handmade," said Agata Gozdzik, the exhibition curator.

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.

Share options

Quickly share this news with your network—keep everyone informed with just a single click!

Change text size options

Customize your reading experience by adjusting the text size to small, medium, or large—find what’s most comfortable for you.

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!

Continue in the app

Get the best experience—faster access, exclusive features, and a seamless way to stay updated.