4 Aug 2014

GLOBAL HEAD CALLS THEM “UNWIELDY”

One of the world’s leaders in clean technology, sustainability and innovation – who will soon visit Australia for the first time – has advocated this country immediately introduce a system of decentralised power grids and save billions of dollars.

Pavegen founder and CEO Laurence Kemball-Cook says it makes no sense for massive power stations to be located long distances from where the energy is consumed.

Speaking ahead of his keynote address to All-Energy Australia 2014 – to be held in Melbourne on October 15th and 16th – Mr Kemball-Cook says: “Significant energy is lost when it is transferred from the point of generation to the point of use.”

He says large installations are “clunky” and “unwieldy” – “a left over from a bygone generation” and “past their use-by date”.

“Now is the time to build small generation, community-based power stations that can be fully integrated into the smart grid of the future.

“That, in turn, will lead to less wastage, significant cost savings, reduced carbon emissions and less dependence upon fossil fuels.”

Mr Kemball-Cook says any and all new buildings can and should be used as power generation stations because they have the built-in technology to create power.

He believes local energy networks will proliferate in the near future, distributing the heat and power from community scale plants (about 1/100th the size of existing power stations).

In 2009, with 50 pounds in his pocket, Mr Kemball-Cook founded Pavegen – an innovative clean tech company, headquartered in London – after patenting a flooring technology that converts footsteps into renewable electricity.

The company now operates in 15 countries, including the UK, Europe, USA, South America, Australia and New Zealand.

It has permanent installations in shopping centres, offices, railway stations, airports and schools.

Pavegen even lit up the London Olympics in 2012, where its special tiles were installed in a tube station walkway.