It is real and quite old technology, the idea has been around since at least the 50s. Rise in cost of electricity, components getting cheaper and the rise of LED lighting probably combined to make it viable. It will not create much electricity but probably plenty to keep the lights on in a busy station.

does what it says but still a gimmick. sure it can trickle out a few watts for LED lights and signs but that's just a drop in the bucket next climate control, let alone the trains themselves

wouldnt this shit feel like walking though sand? or maybe shitty paving. anyone with bad knees or using wheelchair would hate this

also there is no way that its economically viable. what do they cost? maybe 200 dollars each right? they have a life of maybe 2 years and take time to replace, so lets say they cost a thousand usd a year per tile. japan charges apparently 23c per kwh (rounded to 25 though).
now how much can they pull per step? im going to imagine a gravity/mass battery in this scenario (please if you can think of a better way tell me about it). a person weighs what? 100kg? lets say these tiles drop 5cm and it costs no energy to lift back up (very very generous numbers so far).
we can calculate the amount of joules stored in a gravity battery (or gravity powered tile) by mass (in kg) * gravity (9.8, lets say 10) * distance (in meters). so we have 100100.05, we get 50.
50 joules is basically nothing. imagine this tile gets pressed 10 times a minute right? so every 6 seconds we get 10 joules. we can find the wattage simply dividing energy in joules by time in seconds. so thats 10/6, we get 1.66 watts per tile. and this is for a very heavy person pressing a tile down very far and doing it perfectly efficiently 6 times a second
now we know the tile cost per watt and the power grids cost per watt. the tile produces 100w and costs 1000usd a year. it makes (10024365 is 8 769 600) almost 9000kwh in a year for that thousand dollars. thats a cost of a dollar per kwh right? compare that to the top where i said japans electricity is 25c per kwh? the grid is 4 times cheaper than these tiles

also this should be obvious. we have the math but now lets think about this. what powers a human? where does the person walking get their energy from? if you hooked up hamster wheels to the grid would that be any different to what ops picture is in terms of efficiency?
the energy (food) that a human needs is much more expensive than the energy

>>2067198
>much more expensive than the energy
that the grid needs (oil, coal)
i didnt finish that for some reason

anyway this is another example of "thing, japan" and its obviously bullshit
its shit to walk on, it costs more than the power it makes and the fuel is 5x more costly than conventional fuel. im also convinced that just putting solar on the roof is cheaper and makes more power

Literal theft. Are they going to compensate people for their calories?

>>2067198
>wouldnt this shit feel like walking though sand?
Roughly, yes. Some energy that otherwise would be returned from your tendons will instead go towards production of electricity.
>anyone with bad knees or using wheelchair would hate this
Bad knees would probably find it softer but it would demand more from your muscles. Wheelchair users would need more effort to cross this, a little like a slight incline.
Then again it would be great for obese Americans.

publicity stunt but it would be fucking sick if the tile itself lit up with a nice diffuser so as people walk around it gets brighter and brighter but soft underglow-like

ok here's a business idea. roads covered in solar panels. solar road, if you will

>>2067276
They tried that already, it failed because they weren't getting enough sunlight (partial shade, leaves) to justify their maintenance cost. The one in France installed in 2016 produced half of the kilowatts at peak it was supposed to (the next year it produced even less), it literally started falling apart within two years and in 2019 the whole thing was torn out. They installed a tiny section of solar panels in Peachtree Corners, Georgia but in the center of the lane (where tires don't make contact) on a lane that's only for autonomous vehicles which means it sees almost no use, and already it looks pretty weathered.

>>2067128
It works but it's not really practical. Instead of doing autistic shit like this, you can just invest more into nuclear, since nuclear provides an abundance of energy and is emission free.

>>2067276
what a freaking great idea

>>2067289
you just dont understand
ngmi

File: solarfreakingroadways.gif (741 KB, 320x180)

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>>2067276
Solar roadways used to be such a huge meme like 10-15 years ago

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>>2067276
Behold:

>>2067128
if they actually successfully harvest energy, they have to take energy out of your step, so they would feel like walking on hardpack mud or packed snow (ergo, they would suck to walk on)
roads should be hard