Swedish Body Heat
Scalleja / Flickr
In Stockholm, Sweden the average winter temperature is below freezing. Commuters in Stockholm’s Central Station bundle up to fend off the frigid clime. Now, there are plans to use the heat their bodies generate in the station to warm a nearby building.
Two hundred and fifty thousand people arrive at Stockholm Central Station every day. Mostly, they are in a hurry. Since the Central Stakhun, as the locals call it, connects commuter trains to the municipal subways system. As the travelers race from one platform to the other in their thick winter jackets, their skins work like a giant radiator. One breath has a volume of about half a liter. Two hundred fifty thousand breaths – that’s taking account of only one for each commuter in every train – amount to about 135 cubic meters. And this is more than just air; it’s energy.
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