Best foot forward:These titles generate electricity as runners pass over them - with enough people you could light a shopping centre Strange as it may seem, human footsteps could play a significant role in solving the world's energy problems.

That, at least, is the view of Laurence Kemball-Cook, an enthusiastic, 27-year-old, London-based entrepreneur.

His company, Pavegen Systems, produces floor tiles that generate electricity through being walked on.

The combination of the weight of the person and a 5mm movement in the tile is used to generate an electrical current.

So far, this has mainly been to power lighting, but there are other applications.

One step ahead It is intended for places with lots of people passing through, such as railway stations, shopping centres, offices and public buildings.

It has been tested in some high profile venues, including one of the main transport hubs for the Olympic Games in London last year.

More than one million people tramped over Pavegen tiles as they passed through West Ham underground station en route for the Olympic Park, generating the power required to keep the station's lights on.

Pavegen also created an energy self-sufficient dance floor.

Dancers generated the electricity needed to run the event jumping around on the tiles. However Lawrence Kemball-Cook has vastly more ambitious plans.

"This isn't just about niche one-off applications", he explains.

"It is about permanent installations where you have got high footfall that can power commercially viable applications."

He says Pavegen is working with big infrastructure companies like Mott MacDonald to develop large scale uses for the technology.

"We're looking to scale up and industrialise our product," he says.

The company claims its electricity-producing tiles cost about the same to install as other types of flooring in new buildings, although the costs for retrofitting existing floors are higher.

There seems to be no limit to their aspirations.

"We see our technology as a key component in the smart cities of the future," says Mr Kemball-Cook. "Energy efficiency isn't just about how big your wind farm is, it is also about reducing the consumption of current electronics."

He believes Pavegen tiles can help because they lessen the demand for power from the grid, which frequently comes from power stations running on highly polluting, global-warming-inducing fossil fuels.

Mr Kemball-Cook comes across as the archetypal, brash, young entrepreneur, brimming with ideas and self-confidence.

"We believe we might be the Facebook of the kinetic energy harvesting space, which is going to be a huge sector in future," he says.

He came up with the idea while studying industrial design at Loughborough University, and then started the company from a rented flat in south London, with just £50 (US $75) in his pocket.

Sources:

1. BBC News:
   Energy harvesting.