Power From Athletic Legs Poem by gershon hepner

In Rotterdam, the dancers gen-
erate the watts that help to light
the bulbs. Electrically the men
and women grow like tulips-lite
the power from athletic legs
and swaying hips. But they could cool
the earth if they were having sex,
which I believe is greener. Fuel
that comes from making love might solve
the problems of our planet earth,
and if it doesn’t, could involve
our dying species with some mirth,
like lovers lightening-up like lamps
on floors of Rotterdam’s night clubs.
Let’s start the process now, with amps
For saunas, warm towels and hot tubs
before we hit the sheets in air-
conditioned rooms, and make the beast
with two backs, maybe three, and care
for earth before it is deceased.

Elizabeth Rosenthal writes about a nightclub in Rotterdam where the dancers generate electricity with their dancing (“Partying Helps Power a Dutch Nightclub That Harnesses the Energy of Youth, ” NYT, October 24,2008:
If you felt that the atmosphere in the new hip Club Watt was somehow electric, you would be right: Watt has a new type of dance floor that harvests the energy generated by jumps and gyrations and transforms it into electricity. It is one of a handful of energy-generating floors in the world, most still experimental. With its human engineering, Watt partly powers itself: The better the music, the more people dance, the more electricity comes out of the floor. At Watt, which describes itself as the first sustainable dance club, that electricity is used to power the light show in and around the floor. “For this first club, we thought it was useful for people to see the results, ” said Michel Smit, an adviser on the project. “But if the next owner wants to use the electricity to power his toaster, it can do that just as well.” Watt is in large part the creation of the Sustainable Dance Club, a quirky company formed last year by a group of Dutch ecological inventors, engineers and investors now headed by Mr. Smit. More than a year in the making, Watt is a huge performance space with not just the sustainable dance floor, but also rainwater-fed toilets and low-waste bars. (Everything is recycled.) Its heat is harvested in part from the bands’ amplifiers and other musical equipment. “Our idea is that there’s enough energy in this world, you just have to use it the right way, ” Mr. Smit said. “If you have a full dance club, there’s lots there, you just have to turn it into a usable product.” Greener clubbing will obviously not solve the problem of rising greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists say are responsible for global warming. With their woofers and strobes, nightclubs are electricity guzzlers, unlikely ever to be carbon neutral even if scientists could harness the energy of a mosh pit. (The club’s lights do use low-energy bulbs, however.) Still, the energy produced by an average person dancing is about 20 watts’ worth, so two people could light a bulb, Club Watt’s scientific consultants have found. Aryan Tieleman, one of the club’s owners, hopes his sustainable dance floor will ultimately produce 10 percent of the club’s electricity. Green innovations at the venue will reduce energy use by 50 percent and water use by 30 percent, compared with the previous club in the building, he said.


10/24/08