Piezoelectric Walkways

Here’s a video on the proposed use of piezoelectricity (electric power produced when mechanical stress is applied to certain crystals) in walkways.   This is a neat concept, but it’s extremely impractical, with the possible exception of extremely highly trafficked areas, e.g., the doorways to and from Grand Central Station in New York City.  

It’s also a bad sign that the maker of the video doesn’t know the difference between power and energy; he claims that each step taken generates 5 Watts, which is like saying that the distance from here to the grocery store is 40 miles per hour.