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Dancers Fuel New Nightclub - Literally

by Tom Samiljan on July 6, 2007 at 05:02 PM



Dancing all night can use up a lot of energy, or create it -- at least that's what a group of Dutch-researchers-cum-nightclub-impressarios hope when they're done with the Sustainable Dance Club (SDC). Based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the researchers and architects behind the SDC are working on creating a club that will use solar power, wind turbines, low-energy-using LED lights, and rain water and clubgoers' sweat (yes, you heard correctly) to flush toilets.

But the real innovation is to develop a dance floor that creates power out of the pounding feet of dancers. The dance floor would be embedded with sensors that would help generate electricity. For more information on this technique, check out the video that surfaced on YouTube.

Already, clubs such as Worm in Rotterdam are using sustainable techniques, according to this Marketplace story. Worm is built out of 90 percent recycled materials -- door handles are re-used bike handlebars, walls are made of old real-estate signs, and the club's entrance-way is designed to suck in air that is then filtered up to the club's second floor. One club employeee, Mike van Gaasbeek, doesn't like the word "recycled," however. "It's actually 'upcycled' because it's having a better life. It was in a dull office building before," says van Gaasbeek (to Marketplace).

Now, if only they could harness the energy coming out all those Live Earth concert attendees -- then we'd really have something. We're rooting for these Sustainable Dance Club researchers, because wouldn't all of us be better energy savers if it were only more fun?

From Marketplace, YouTube, and Sustainable Dance Club.


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