Floor tiles that turn footsteps into electricity, still in design

Millions of footsteps a day, and the energy in them simply disappears. "What if we could capture at least a small part of that energy and put it to good use?" Arpita Kumari says.

While researching renewable technologies, she says, she came across piezoelectric floor tiles used in countries like Japan, which convert the mechanical energy of footsteps into electrical energy. She began developing her own energy conversion model on the same principle: piezoelectric materials embedded beneath floor tiles, with the electricity stored and later used to power LED lights, sensors, charging stations or other low-power devices in busy public places such as railway stations, schools, airports and shopping malls.

“A lot will go wrong before everything goes right so keep going.”

Arpita Kumari

"A single footstep does not produce much electricity, but thousands of footsteps in crowded public spaces create an opportunity to harvest energy that would otherwise be wasted," she says.

There is no prototype yet. The project is in the research and design phase, and she is studying the physics of piezoelectric materials, existing technologies and ways to improve their efficiency and practical applications. She studies at Agrasen D.A.V Public School.

"I understand that piezoelectric flooring cannot replace major renewable energy sources like solar or wind power because the energy generated from each step is relatively small," she says. "However, I believe it can complement them by harvesting energy that is currently wasted."

The starting point was the environment. "I often wonder what kind of world future generations will inherit if we continue to consume resources without finding sustainable alternatives," she says. Her aim with the tiles is to understand the technology well enough to make it more practical, efficient and accessible, and she wants to measure how much energy can realistically be generated and where the limits are.

"I know this project alone will not solve climate change," she says. "It is the beginning of the kind of engineer I hope to become, someone who creates technologies that improve people's lives while respecting the planet we all share."