Sensasell Makes Walking a Bright Idea

It seems reminders of our impact on the environment are everywhere these days, from hybrid cars to campaigns for reusable grocery bags, but at the “Comunitat Valenciana,” or Spanish Pavilion in Zaragoza, Spain, there is another reminder of our carbon footprint.

Sensasell Cooperation has recent unveiled it’s contribution to the upcoming 2008 World Expo in Zaragoza. The theme this year is “Water and Sustainable Development,” and in order to accompany this theme, Sensacell has created and installed a 250 square foot floor composed of approximately 1000 Sensacell HSI64-36-W cells that respond to pressure by lighting up and then fading gradually when pressure is released. By using capacitate sensors and an LED lighting system, the floor helps supply light based on the number of people walking on it at any given time.

Capacitate sensors activate through two electric plates. One plate is charged with energy, while the other is held close to it. When the plates are close enough together, the energy will then jump between them, creating light. In it’s application in the Sensasell floor, the pressure applied to the top (non-energized) plate lessens the gap between the two plates, allowing the energy to transfer and light to appear. Video demonstrations of the floor show the light trail left by Pavilion patrons liek something out of Close Encounters. As the cells light up, they leave a ten-second glow of white on the otherwise glass-green tiles.

Sensacell promotes the floor as a viable solution to lighting in large public areas such as hotel or building lobbies, stages or clubs where more light is needed. But practical applications aside, the floor is designed and installed in Zaragoza to comment on the increasing size of our collective (and individual) carbon footprint.

The eco-friendly state of the floor itself is still in debate, however. It’s LED properties make it an energy-saving device, but even when the floor is not being stepped on to be lit, it must still be carrying a charge. Sensasell makes a beautiful and poignant comment with their pressure-sensitive floor, but outside of the World Expo, just how much of a comment do they make about our energy consumption? Hopefully the energy needed to power the floor can one day itself be from an alternative source.