One eco-friendly nightclub entrepreneur has discovered the best way to get everyone on the dance floor. Temple Nightclub is the first nightlife venue on the West Coast to implement a sustainable dance floor, using the vibrations and movement of dancers to generate electricity.
The floor compresses by 10 millimeters when stepped on, enough to activate an internal generator that produces 35 Watts of output per module. An energy meter moves up as more dancers get moving.
This is one part of the club’s effort to create “edu-tainment,†their version of eco-conscious entertainment that involves the community in tackling climate change issues that are affecting the entire planet. The goal is to create sustainable energy that involves having fun while doing it, and it sounds like they’ve found a great way to do it. After a few long island iced teas, who ISN’T going to be obsessing over the electricity meter?
Temple Nightclub’s Director of Sustainability says they’ve been involved in the green industry ever since they opened, with a variety of sustainable initiatives brewing behind the scenes, such as their effort to divert more than 90% of trash away from landfills. While that’s been going on for some time without many customers knowing about it, the interactive dance floor is a way to get people in the door and appreciate how much fun it can be to discover new sustainable alternatives.
With more than 2,000 visitors each week, an electric bill can get pretty costly, so this is not only a considerable reduction in resource consumption, but quite the hefty money saver as well.
The Sustainable Dance Floor (SDF) isn’t only used in San Francisco. Introduced in the Netherlands in 2008, it’s used to promote sustainable energy use at events and exhibitions around the world.
I’d love to try this out, but I fear I’d turn it into too much of a competition. I don’t want to have any friends who’s dance moves create more energy than mine.
Image: Temple Night Club
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