Harvesting Energy in Unusual Ways

So over the last few weeks one of my group projects called for an invention that would make something that normally uses electricity and make it work without connection to the grid. The whole class came up with amazing creations such as a shaker flashlight, bike powered blender, and sun powered night lights to name a few. My group decided to go with a more unique approach. We wanted our project to be almost a 'light bulb' for people, to draw attention to the energy we are unintentionally creating each day and how it could be harvested.

Our idea is called "The Revolving Revolution" and it works by spinning a revolving door and using that motion to store energy to power things. This could be used anywhere there are revolving doors or turnstiles. In a nut shell it works by rotating gears as the door spins which are hooked up to a generator that powers a rechargeable battery. Then we have a switch where we can turn a light, powered by the revolving door, on and off using energy that would have other wise been lost.

In reality, it isn't going to power a house for all day long and save massive amounts of energy. But this could spark ideas for other free power alternatives, and all the energy saved would add up!

Visit our website to learn more and submit your e-mail if you like our idea!