(NTL studio / Shutterstock.com)
SWG3, an arts and entertainment venue in Glasgow, Scotland, has got the power! In a world first, this arts club will up its cool and green credentials when it launches BODYHEAT technology on November 7, 2021.
This exciting innovation will use the body heat from customers dancing in their nightclub to help power the venue and reduce carbon emissions!
Entertainment trailblazer!
Harnessing crowd power from joyful clubbers to power a venue and reduce its carbon footprint sounds like a truly amazing idea. And SWG3’s website has grasped the poetic significance behind this innovation when it says “Your sweat = our future” and “DANCE YOURSELF GREEN.”
A nightclub in #Glasgow has launched a project to harness the body heat of gig-goers and dancers to help power the venue and minimise its #carbonfootprint.@SWG3glasgow @HONEYDIJON @Town_Rock #COP26#sustainability https://t.co/d4EaOpSQOB
— Energy Live News (@EnergyLiveNews) September 6, 2021
MD of SWG3, Andrew Fleming-Brown, has previously spoken of the project's environmental significance with Glasgow West End. He explained that the Pandemic had jolted business into an understanding of 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.” He outlines how welcoming over 250,000 visitors in the previous year, naturally generated enormous amounts of heat that were ejected into the atmosphere as waste. “With this new system in place, we will utilise all of that energy, consuming minimal electricity and gas on site and in turn minimising our carbon emissions,” he adds.
And in a recent SWG3 media release, Honey Dijon, the DJ who will headline at the launch of the BODYHEAT project, adds: “Anything we can do at this moment to help climate change is a positive thing. This new system of channelling energy from the dance floor is something innovative and sustainable.”
(Photo courtesy of SWG3)
How does it work?
SWG3’s website also summarizes the technology behind their innovation: “BODYHEAT is a pioneering system that will capture YOUR body heat, transport it to boreholes drilled 150-200 metres deep into our floors, where we can store it for days, weeks or months to be used as energy for the building - with potential savings of up to 70 tonnes of carbon per year.”
To utilize the energy generated by customers, visitors and staff, the venue is collaborating with geothermal energy consultants TownRock Energy and engineering firm Harley Haddow as reported in Energy Live News.
Delving into this innovation in more detail, the SWG3 media release explains that the system ”works by capturing the waste heat from a room that a standard ventilation system or air conditioning unit would wastefully release to the atmosphere on the outer side of a building. In this case the heat is transferred to a borehole array acting as a thermal store. This heat energy will be redistributed when necessary into other spaces requiring temperature adjustment, be it heating or cooling, providing a green, low carbon provision.”
(Photo courtesy of Michael Hunter, with thanks also to SWG3)
In sync with the upcoming COP26 Conference in Glasgow
Significantly, BODYHEAT is launching at the SWG3 venue to coincide with the UK’s hosting of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). This environmental summit is bringing parties together to accelerate action towards addressing climate change.
????????????????! SWG3 Presents BODYHEAT with @HONEYDIJON, a party during #COP26 to celebrate the launch of our radical new BODYHEAT energy system!
— SWG3 (@SWG3glasgow) September 5, 2021
???????????????????????????? → https://t.co/J9f6rOSAIb pic.twitter.com/w5CTa6im4Z
And the SWG3 hub is also hosting the New York Times Climate Hub with talks, photography and performances in November 2021. Speakers include artist Oliver Jeffers, author and co-founder of the School of Life, Roman Krznaric, & fashion designer, Stella McCartney. They will join over 150 contributors made up of climate strategists, innovators & industry leaders.
