Shell Is Using Kinetic Energy to Power Soccer Fields

Even veritable strangers to the world of soccer like myself know that one thing reigns prevalent over every game — the running. Some players have been tracked running over 9.5 miles in one game. Multiply that by 22 players, and you get a lot of footsteps. The energy corporation Shell is looking to turn those footsteps into storable power with the help of some new technology.

Shell announced today in a press release that they have completed refurbishing a soccer field in the Morro da Mineira community of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil that uses 200 specialized tiles buried underground to capture energy of the players running on the field. The energy is stored — along with energy generated by solar panels next to the field — and used to power the flood lights that allow play after dark.

“The pitch proves the potential and power when scientists and entrepreneurs focus their efforts to develop creative and innovative energy solutions,” Andre Araujo, the Shell Brazil Country Chair, explains. “By tapping into the world’s passion and interest in football, we aim to capture the attention of youngsters around the world so they think differently about energy and the opportunity of science studies and careers.”

The technology to achieve such feats was developed by a company called Pavegen. Pavegen’s CEO, Laurence Kemball-Cook, was a finalist of Shell’s LiveWIRE UK Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011. The project is part of Shell’s Make the Future campaign that hopes to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and engineering.

The price of such a project was not disclosed, but similar implementations have been installed by Pavegen in places like the 2012 Olympics in Sochi and Heathrow Airport in London. While it’s fair to assume that impoverished neighborhoods will not all be getting new decked-out soccer pitches, the idea is certainly an intriguing one. If this technology can become easy and affordable enough to install in even a handful of the thousands of fields in Europe and South America, it may help offset some of the costs and energy consumption of a typical match.

Sports teams all over are looking at ways to conserve resources, to save both money and face with the public. There is no reason that such a thing can’t be installed in a new American football stadium in the near future. They don’t run as much as soccer players, but wouldn’t it be cool to know that your new beer was kept cold with help from your favorite player as he a broke a 40-yard touchdown run?

There’s a lot of talk about energy consumption and conservation going on these days. And while talking heads on cable news continue to yell at each other over the merits of their arguments, it’s nice to see that some people are taking the initiative to work on a solution. I don’t envision a future in which every pee wee soccer game is played on a magic energy-making field, but it’s a nice start.