RP373 People Power

 RP373 People Power

In a world where oil and gas are increasingly scarce, companies are scrambled to find innovative new ways to conserve energy and save money. A Swedish company called Jernhusen has taken things one step further. They have discovered how to harness an energy source that is abundant yet often overlooked—the heat radiated by the human body.
Jernhusen is a real estate company that owns Stockholm's Central Station, the largest railway station in Sweden. Over 250,000 commuters come through here every single day. Some of them stay for a while to have a coffee, a quick bite, or maybe even catch a nap while they wait for an afternoon train. All of them put together radiate enough heat to keep the station warm and toasty despite the harsh Swedish winter outside.
Jernhusen engineers discovered that this heat could be used for another purpose. They built an innovative new heating system that uses the accumulated body heat in Stockholm Central Station to heat up large tanks of water. Once it's hot enough, the water is then pumped 100 yards across the street, where it's used to heat another office building that is owned by Jernhusen. The system cost a mere US$30,000 to install, and it is estimated that it will reduce energy costs by 30 percent every year.
Sweden isn't the only country going ahead with this innovative new technology. A similar scheme has also been implemented in Paris, where body heat from the Metro is harnessed and pumped into public housing buildings. The Mall of America in Minnesota is another example of a heating system that takes advantage of body heat. In fact, its combination of skylights and body heat has been a little too effective. There are times when the mall needs to turn on the air-conditioning during wintertime in order to maintain a comfortable temperature for shoppers.
While body heating systems are an innovative new approach, they do have some drawbacks. The heat cannot travel very far before it starts to cool off. What's more, body heat systems are not economically feasible in warmer climates and locations with cheaper conventional energy sources like oil and gas.