H uman-powered transport has been in existence since time immemorial in the form of walking, running and swimming.

However modern technology has led to machines to enhance the use of human-power in more efficient manner. In this context, pedal power is an excellent source of energy and has been in use since the nineteenth century making use of the most powerful muscles in the body. Ninety-five percent of the exertion put into pedal power is converted into energy. Pedal power can be applied to a wide range of jobs and is a simple, cheap, and convenient source of energy. However, human kinetic energy can be useful in a number of ways but it can also be used to generate electricity based on different approaches and many organizations are already implementing human powered technologies to generate electricity to power small electronic appliances. Freeplay Energy Company (USA) has released a human-powered electricity generator for commercial sale in which power is generated by pushing up and down with foot on a step-action treadle. A similar, newly released portable energy source is a foot-powered device that allows individuals to pump out power at a 40-watt clip to charge its own internal battery, which is capable of providing a powerful jolt to car batteries and AC and DC devices. In another approach, if everyone had small magnets in their shoes and the paving slabs had inter-connected coils cast inside, all linked to batteries, electricity can be generated and the amount will depend on how many people are on the move. A few months back there was also news in the countrys news papers that some engineer (s) are planning and developing system to harness the energy of vehicle locomotion on the roads Working on the idea to harness human locomotion power, MIT (USA) architecture students James Graham and Thaddeus Jusczyk recently unveiled what they're calling the "Crowd Farm," a setup that would derive energy from pounding feet in crowded places. This technology is a proposal to harness human power as a source of sustainable energy. Population of India and mobility of its masses will turn into boon in generating electricity from its (populations) footsteps. Human locomotion in over crowded subway stations, railway stations, bus stands, airports, temples or rock concerts thus can be converted to electrical energy with the use of this promising technology.

Fig. 1: Stool to exploit passive act ofsitting to generate power

The technology would turn the mechanical energy of people walking or jumping into a source of electricity. The students' test case, displayed at the Venice Biennale and in a train station in Torino, Italy, was a prototype stool (fig.1) that exploits the passive act of sitting to generate power. The weight of the body on the seat causes a flywheel to spin, which powers a dynamo that, in turn, lights four LEDs. In each case, there would be a sub-flooring system consisting of independent blocks. When people walk across this surface, the forces they impart will cause the blocks to slip slightly, and a dynamo would convert the energy in Fig. 2: Pavement those movements into electric current. Students say that moving from architectural view of this Proof-of-concept device to a large-scale Crowd Farm (fig.2) would Crowd energy farm be expensive, but it certainly sounds a great option. A Crowd Energy Farm would work like this: a responsive sub-flooring system made up of blocks that depress slightly under the force of human steps would be installed beneath the walking lobby. The slippage of the blocks against one another as people walked would generate power through the principle of the dynamo, a device that converts the energy of motion into that of an electric current. The Crowd Farm is not intended for home use as a single human step can only power two 60W light bulbs for one flickering second. But get a crowd in motion, multiply that single step by 28,527 steps, for example, and the result is enough energy to power a moving train for one second. And while the farm is over crowded with moving population, the dynamo-floor principle can be applied to capture energy at large levels. Greater movement of people will generate more energy. The "Crowd would work something like this A responsive sub-flooring system would be placed under, say, the platform of a subway terminal. The blocks that make up the system would depress slightly under the force of human footsteps. As the blocks slipped against each other, they would generate power in the form of an electric current. The electric current could be used, among other things, to light up signs about the energy created by the pedestrians, the creators say. People should understand the direct relationship between their movement and the energy produced," said co-creator Thaddeus Jusczyk. While the Crowd Farm wouldn't work in the home (a single human step generates only enough power to light two 60-watt light bulbs for one second), it could really draw some power from a crowd producing thousands of steps. Some 28,527 steps, for example, could power an entire moving train for a second. The Crowd Farm could also be used to harness the head-bashing energy at a rock concert. Other people have developed piezo-electric (mechanical-to-electrical) surfaces in the past, but the Crowd Farm has the potential to redefine urban space by adding a sense of fluidity and encouraging people to activate spaces with their movement. The Crowd Farm floor is composed of standard parts that are easily replicated but it is expensive to produce at this stage. This technology would facilitate the future creation of new urban landscapes athletic fields with a spectator area, music halls, theatres, nightclubs and a large gathering space for rallies, demonstrations and celebrations, railway stations, bus stands, subways, airports etc. like capable of harnessing human locomotion for electricity generation. Proposal for the utilization of waste energy of foot power with human locomotion is very much

relevant and important for highly populated countries like India and China where the roads, railway stations, bus stands, temples, etc. are all over crowded and millions of people move around the clock. This whole human/bio energy being wasted if can be made possible for utilization it will be great invention and crowd energy farms will be very useful energy sources in crowded countries. Walking across a "Crowd Farm," floor, then, will be a fun for idle people who can improve their health by exercising in such farms with earning. The electrical energy generated at such farms will be useful for near by applications. Let us hope that this invention will reach to the market or to the utilization level and will not fade with time like it happen with many other laboratory inventions.