HUMAN POWER PLANT

Two New Case Studies

The Human Power Plant is a multi-disciplinary research project into the possibility of sustainable energy production based on human power alone.

In a first case study, we designed plans for the conversion of a 22 floor tower building into an entirely human powered student community of 750 people, and built a working prototype of a human power plant.

In the coming months, we focus on two other concrete cases in the Netherlands, aiming to reveal what can be learned from a strictly human powered perspective. 

Sustainable Decadence on the Roof

Located on the roof of the Human Powered Student building are ten Skystream windturbines. Together, these can supply 20 kW of power with a strong breeze (11 m/s).

Whenever it’s windy, human energy production is taken over by the wind turbines. During windy periods, students thus enjoy free and effortless energy use. Daily working duties are reduced or eliminated.

Human Power Plant (1.2): Work Songs

Video of the prototype in Antwerp. Made by Laura Zuallaert.

Everybody's talking about sustainable energy, but what is it exactly? And how does it sound? We try to answer these questions with the newest version of our prototype Human Power Plant, an off-the-grid renewable energy source that produces electricity, compressed air, and water under pressure.

In order to try and motivate people to generate their own power, we have equipped the human power plant with sound production. In earlier times, when physical labour was much more common than it is today in the industrialised world, people sang songs to increase work productivity, keep boredom at bay, or coordinate the actions of different workers. At the same time, these work songs were an outlet for humour, ridicule, and frustration.

Following the same logic, in the Human Power Plant every movement that produces energy now also produces sound. Consequently, each time the Human Power Plant is operated, a work song is composed.