Dance to heat a building. If it is certain that being on the dance floor makes you hot, who would have thought that this same floor could become an energy provider? The Scottish company Townrock Energy, obviously. The latter has equipped a performance hall based in Glasgow, the SWG3, with the very first geoenergy system in the world, called BodyHeat. Thus, body heat is captured by a heat pump, which redistributes it throughout the building at the desired temperature, as spotted by the BBC.
According to the managers of the nightclub, this would “completely disconnect the gas boilers from the venue, thus reducing CO2 emissions by around 70 tonnes per year.” Company founder David Townsend estimates that on medium-paced music, a body can generate up to 250 watts. On DJ music “that smacks the bass lines and literally blows everyone up, you can release 500 to 600 watts of thermal energy,” he says. The first test will be on November 7 with a party organized by Honey Dijon.
However, this technique has two disadvantages: it is extremely expensive (the installation cost 600,000 pounds, or 682,937 euros) and requires a large amount of energy to make it work. In short: forget the slows in the middle of winter. In contrast, BodyHeat is a zero carbon solution.
