Performing sustainability

So I'm cruising around the Internet, looking for creative things people might be doing with 'performance' and 'sustainability', thinking about this thesis project I have to design and get off the ground in the next year or so. I found a very cool project happening in Rotterdam, Holland.

'Green' nightclub plans unveiled
Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 16:04 GMT

A new nightclub in the Netherlands plans to offer clubbers an environmentally-friendly night out - in part by having them power the place through their dancing.

Plans for the Sustainable Dance Club in Rotterdam have officially been launched, detailing, amongst other things, a special dancefloor which converts the movement of the dancers into electricity.

Other methods of making the club "greener" include rainwater toilets, biological beer, and walls which change colour according to the heat generated inside the club, without using any electricity.

There is more in the BBC article, but the point is that all that human bodily energy being expended in self-expression, flirtation, stress relief, and general shimmy-shakin' is being converted to electrical energy to power the club. Freakin' awesome! They haven't defined the science of the dance floor yet but have proposed a few potential models, for example the floor could act as a large bellows that pumps air in and out as the weight of dancers changes across the floor, generating wind for mini-turbines. Simple and idealistic, but it just might work!

My creative juices are feeling a little drained from the exam process of the last few months, so if anyone hears or thinks of anything really cool and innovative that involves human body energy and sustainability options, please send it my way. I'm hoping to develop a project that will involve some travel, some innovative technology or innovative application of older technology, and interaction with a sustainability initiative already on the ground and running (or just about to). McGyver, I'm looking at you!