The People’s Power Pavilion from Michael Jantzen
Michael Jantzen
The Peoples Power Pavilion is a large public gathering place designed to promote the development, and use of alternative energy systems in the built environment. It also functions as an architectural art attraction for the community in which it is built, and generates alternative power for that community from the wind, the sun, and from the people who visit the pavilion.
Energy from the wind is generated through a large custom-made vertical axis wind turbine mounted on the top of the pavilion. Energy from the sun is generated through flexible solar cells that are adhered to the roof of the pavilion in the form of long black strips. Energy from the people who visit the pavilion is generated through eight custom-built exercise bikes located at the center of the Peoples Power Pavilion. These bikes, which are mounted to the floor, can be used by the public free of charge. People can activate the bikes with their cell phones. As they pedal the bikes, electrical energy is sent into the local power grid. Each person is given an energy credit for their own power bill, based on the amount of energy they produce. In addition, each person can access real time information (while they are exercising) about their health status from small monitors that are mounted in front of each bike.
There is a large cylindrical shaped low energy consuming LED display screen and light (powered by the pavilion) hung from the center of the ceiling. The display screen can be used as a community bulletin board and/or it can display abstract light patterns generated by the ebb and flow of the energy being captured by the wind, sun, and/or by the people pedaling the bikes. There are also many places for people to sit under the roof of the pavilion and, if they wish, access the Internet. The Peoples Power Pavilion can be closed off with glass doors in the winter, or left open year round.
