In a story that has made an appearance in Tech.co.uk today, the East Japan Railway Company have installed piezoelectric generators in the floor of a ticket gate in a bizarre field study. The generator will capture the commuters’ stepping power as they walk through the gates. The amount of power produced at the gates is irrelevant - I think the real story is in the moral implications.

If it proves to be efficient enough at the ticket gates, what’s to stop the railway from putting the floors throughout the different areas of the station? And then other stations? Or on the trains? Pretty soon the technology would become common place and perhaps even be used in different buildings or complexes? Using this system, essentially means a corporation is harnessing energy from it’s rail service passengers without their permission. I don’t think people would mind as long as they would see benefits & they were asked for their opinion on it. But then how will it work? Would you sign something to say “JR-East can harness my energy”? It’s a really cool idea that needs to concentrate on execution, I think, but sounds too easy for it to fail.. [SHOW ME]