03sustainability

Metropolis design coMpetion: “wi-walk”emily elwell erik kreider nicole lamison leigh cohen annie ryan yomiko Hirao

the o

bje

ctiv

e.

sustainabilitysyracuse university hosted an interdicipliary charette to create design solutions for the 2009 Metropilis next generation design competition: Fix our energy addiction. the charette brought together interior design and industrial design students in a week long collaborative event. the syracuse center of excellence kicked off the week and also awarded prize money. My team began by analyzing how and when we use energy throughout a typical day. in doing so, we determined that energy is consumed in vast qantities, but we also realized that energy is created kinetically as well. this became the basis of our design for the “wi-walk”, a shoe insert that harnesses kinetic energy through peizoelectricity.

03.1

we can bring the global community

together, through kinetic energy created

by a universal activity.

this is acheived by placing a kinetic device

in one’s shoe. one can simply donate

energy without being inconveienced

socially connecting people through the

need to find alternative forms of energy, this

shoe insert gathers one’s daily kinetic power

and deposits it throughout the community.

no matter how minute the effort, one will

be able to create an impact in order to aid

in fighting to conserve our resources and

save our world.

tracking the footsteps of alternative energy....

by recording one’s movement throughout the day, we can track the energy used as well as the energy that can be gained through motion.

Metropolis design coMpetion: “wi-walk”a d

ay

in t

he l

ife.

sustainability

03.1

tech

no

log

y.throughout our research we discovered that several kinetic shoes had been developed, but not many were very ef-ficient. We began to look into several different technologies that are currently being used in different applications. these technologies include piezoelectricity, wi-tricity, and the i-bar.

pi-e-zo-e-lec-tric:

elecricity from applied stress

the kinetic energy produced from pressue

of walking is sotred in piezoelectric

materials, such as a certain varieties of

crystals or ceramics. these materials have

the ability to generate an electric current

from the applied pressure. the piezoelectric

materials, and springs to absorb the force

of walking, would be contained in the shoe

insert. the electricity would be stored in

the shoe insert until the individual stepped

onto an energy deposit station.

wi-tri-ci-ty:

transfering electric energy or power

over a distance without wires

i-bar:

intelligent tracking system that

detects all objects

sho

e i

nse

rt.

Metropolis design coMpetion: “wi-walk”

en

erg

y tr

ack

.

1 the inserts obtain kinetic energy through walking.

2 an energy pad is found at various places accompainied by the logo.

3 the energy is wirelessly transfered to the pad and distributed to the community.

4 each individual can see their impact on the global community.

sustainability

03.1

imp

act

.we have created many scenarios tracking the energy of a single person all the way to the energy created by a stadium. these scenarios show that no matter how minute the effort, one will be able to create an impact in order to aid the fight to conserve our energy and save our world. We can bring the global community together through kinetic energy by a universal activity.

“together more power than alone. active more power than stationary.”

Metropolis design coMpetion: “wi-walk”

futu

re.

considering the impact that human power can have on a global community, we can bring the world one step closer to fighting our addiction to energy. With the mass amount of human energy created by people all over the world, we can be more responsible for our planet and ourselves.

sustainability

03.1