Energy efficiency ideas heat up

Being crammed into a tiny space with lots of strangers isn’t anyone’s idea of fun, but unfortunately it is a reality for many city dwellers and commuters.

Rather than lament over the lack of space, a Swedish company has harnessed the concept of body heat by finding a way to use it as an energy supply to warm an entire office building.

Thousands of people move through Stockholm’s Central Station every day, and Jernhusen has come up with a way to transfer the excess heat generated by the station’s thousands of visitors to an adjacent building.

The station’s ventilation system includes heat exchangers, which convert all the excess warmth into hot water that is then pumped to the nearby building, reportedly reducing energy costs by as much as 25%.

Green innovations are readily embraced by businesses if they show a strong financial incentive, so this kind of idea could be developed by extending it to buses or even show grounds – imagine an operator’s delight at having the crowds they attract contribute to their energy savings.