Have you ever thought about the amount of energy that is generated every time you take a step? Well, scientists have, and they are looking at harnessing this energy. What exactly is this energy? Let’s review some basic science — the ability to do work or the ability to move an object is called energy. Energy occurs in two primary states, potential and kinetic. Kinetic energy is the release of potential energy to create motion, ultimately to do work. An example of kinetic energy is the energy carried by wind or moving water. Kinetic energy also includes the energy to move your body such as the energy that allows you to walk generated from chemical reactions that provide energy. Chemical energy can be transformed into thermal energy, mechanical energy, and electrical energy.

So why not harness the chemical energy that you and I generate every second of the day? In an article in the Jan. 07, UTNE magazine, it reports that with each footstep we take generating six to eight watts of energy, we are a potential alternative energy source. So, researchers are looking into ways to capture this energy and turn it into a “workable power force”.

The military is the one who originally came up with the idea in order to eliminate the need for rechargeable batteries for communication devices in the field. So, instead of carrying heavy batteries around that need recharging, the soldier is the battery himself that magically recharges every time he eats. What the researchers did was develop a type of generator that can be embedded in a soldier’s boots to transform kinetic energy into electrical current. Now that’s what I call an efficient and practical use of calories. Scientists are also looking at cell-phone chargeable shoes and self-charging ‘wearable’ computers. With these practical and available new ideas, the future will be more individually portable than ever.

So, what would this new concept mean on a mass scale? There is a British firm, Facility Architects, who is working on an idea that will capture this same energy on a large scale. Their twist to this concept is ‘vibration-harvesting sensors’ that could be set into train stations, bridges, factories and other buildings. These entities vibrate with kinetic energy from people, cars, or machinery. With these ‘vibration-harvesting sensors’ in use, it is reported in the UTNE article, that it could save $200 Billion a year in the U.S. alone. The company is said to be starting a test prototype in 2007.

In an article published in ZPEnergy, it states that we live in the ‘Fossil Fuel Age’ with coal, oil, and natural gas supplying 93% of the world’s energy; water supplying 1%; and the labor of men and domestic animals supplying 6%. This is a drastic reversal of corresponding figures back in the 1850s when fossil fuels supplied only 5% of the world’s energy and men and animals supplied 94%. This reversal has advanced a standard of living beyond what people in that era could have ever imagined. But sustaining this golden age of technological convenience and high living standards, depends entirely upon our ability to keep energy supplies in balance with the needs of our growing population.

But there are untapped energy sources out there everywhere, including you and I, that have never been considered just due to the fact that we have so heavily relied on ‘easy energy’. Well, the ‘easy energy’ won’t last much longer, so we have to get smarter. Taping into kinetic energy that exists everywhere, may be the answer. So, look for those snappy new boots in the mall that will allow your cell-phone to run without ever having to recharge it….sounds good to me. Where do I sign up?