I’m Elizabeth Redmond- your designtrepreneur (a term my friend and colleague Joe coined meaning designer, entrepreneur, and allow me to add, inventor). Back in 2005 during my BFA thesis work at the University of Michigan, I set out to design interfaces that generate electricity from the human body. Now, two and a half years later, I’m working around the clock to turn the alternative energy paradigm on its head through my brainchild I call POWERleap -- a flooring system destined for high foot- traffic urban areas that generates electricity via human footfall. Think 5th Avenue powered by the stampede of shoppers! The POWERleap concept is meant to engage the community, you, to take responsibility and generate some of the electricity we use everyday. This interaction between our exerted energy and the electrical energy we create/consume is where my designer mind comes into practice- my job is to make it functional, mysterious, fun, interactive, educational, sexy, and satisfying; and also, to make it work! On a larger scale, my vision is to sustain urban public electrical consumption via human energy.

I am determined to create the day when we produce our own electricity by walking to work, running in the park, walking through the airport terminal, and simply playing on the streets together.

I’m 23 years old, but maybe not your ordinary 23 year old.  This I attribute to my large family (I’m the youngest of four) of socially and environmentally conscious mentors.  They are my foundation.  They inspire me to think big and keep my head on straight. After graduation I worked for my sister on her Discovery Health series she hosts "Get Fresh with Sara Snow". I helped her develop content while we packed our suitcases and travelled across the country to feature do-ers actively living and serving for the planet.

Today, as I traverse the road of a young social entrepreneur, I am led to new friends and collaborators nearly every day doing amazing work to improve lives globally, enable environmental change, and educate mindsets. While dividing my time between POWERleap, a start-up sustainable material sourcing called Ecolect, and various sustainability and design related consulting projects; the breadth of my work is dedicated to making healthy, green decisions easy, obvious, and of course, enjoyable for consumers.  Join me this summer while I partner up, collaborate, and activate.

Follow me as I meet with the office executives, the movers and the shakers, and the next generation designers about POWERleap. Support me as I t troubleshoot circuitry problems the day before a television press gig, and field waves of emails from all corners of industry. I’ve dished up a lot onto my plate, yet somehow I manage to enjoy and learn from (the majority of) it.

After receiving runner-up status in the 2007 Metropolis Magazine Next Generation Design Competition, POWERleap began gaining traction.  From an overwhelming amount of media support to a generous grant from Mohawk Group of Mohawk Industries, POWERleap is growing by the day. Currently, POWERleap is in its third generation prototyping stage and I am working hard to pull together the funding to push the product into its next stage of development. Alone I am one person, together we are a network.  You can help me to turn this prototype into a product.  This summer I will take the Changents’ Earthkeeper community to a music festival where I will participate in a renewable energy think tank… to California to meet with new installation hosts for POWERleap tiles…to my humble office where the design magic happens and exciting inquiries are led.  Meanwhile, you will experience where I draw my eco-design curiosity from, and enjoy the summer fun on the streets of Chicago with me!
 

Comments

markenstrom
June 23, 2008 - 10:16am

Elizabeth, great concept and design! I'm curious, have you approached VCs to get the capital to scale your operation to hit more areas? There are so many applications for this, and I think a lot of investors would jump at the chance to help out.

Kevyn Miller
July 26, 2008 - 3:58am

Can the POWERleap be made robust enough to survive under railway sleepers or rails, capturing some of the enrgy that is currently wasted by urban transit vehicles. Woukd it be viable to use POWERleap tiles to extend the life of freeway pavements and generate vast amounts of electricity in the very urban areas where demand is highest?

Danny Demello
August 14, 2008 - 3:08am

Dear Elizabeth,
I think that people like you are great and this method of generating electricity is a novel way to do so. I am from India and I would lke to know if your product is already bieng used. In India it could mean a lot. Way to Go...

don
September 18, 2008 - 6:59pm

No offense to Elizabeth, but there have been poeple investigating this well before her. Although it is great to see a young person step up and attempt a solution. I hope she makes it to market and is successful.

WilliamC
September 25, 2008 - 11:51am

Why just human foot traffic? Could it be adapted to livestock, to allow cattle, goats, llamas, etc. to generate electriicity in rural areas of underdeveloped parts of the world? Possible use of microfinance loans to allow ordinary investors to help individual farmers, e.g. through www.Kiva.org.

Ezra
October 27, 2008 - 9:02am

I'm curious as to who else has put serious development effort into this. It's hardly a new idea. I came up with it myself in high school after read some Issac Asimov story (probably a Foundation novel). I don't remember now if I read this exact idea or just something that lead me to this line of thinking. But I'm no engineer so it never went beyond "wouldn't it be cool if..." for me. I really hope this becomes a reality.

My other idea which may or may not have been developed is putting this tech inside sneakers. Feel free to "run" with that idea if you can.