Scottish venue to use dancers’ body heat as renewable power source

Scottish venue to use dancers’ body heat as renewable power source

A Scottish club has unveiled grand plans to use the body heat of its patrons to power the venue.

The announcement comes in the lead-up to global leaders converging on Glasgow for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November.

An iconic club located in the Scottish capital, SWG3, said it would introduce “a state-of-the-art renewable heating and cooling system” to convert the body heat of dancers and gig attendees into an energy source.

The club aims to install the BODYHEAT system over the summer of 2021 as part of its ambition to become a carbon-neutral venue.

According to a statement on the venue’s website, the system is the first of its kind to be installed in Scotland, using heat pumps and fluids to capture the “incredible amounts of body heat generated by SWG3’s crowds”, into 12 boreholes that are each 150 metres deep beneath the venue.

The energy generated can either be used to immediately cool the venue, or stored until it is needed to heat the building.

Andrew Fleming Brown, managing director of SWG3, said: “There’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought huge challenges to the events sector around the world, but it has also created a seismic jolt across businesses – underlining the need for a stable and sustainable future.

“BODYHEAT is our innovative contribution to a global issue, and will help us to dramatically decrease our energy consumption – bringing us one step closer to becoming a carbon-neutral venue in the not-so-distant future.”

The human body can produce around 100 watts of excess heat while idle, which adds up fast in a confined space, especially when there is dancing involved.

Based on the number of people who visit the venue, it’s estimated to save 70 tonnes of CO2 annually.


Featured image source: Facebook/SWG3glasgow

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