Commuters' bodies to Heat Parisian Building

A Parisian public housing project is hoping to lower its carbon footprint by harnessing excess body heat and using it to produce energy. Paris Habitat is planning to redirect the heat created by commuters' bodies from the underground passages in the city's subway systems to heat exchangers and pipes in one of its properties on rue Beaubourg. It is hoped that the project will heat 17 flats and help cut the building's carbon emissions by a third. "Luckily, the building is connected to the metro through a staircase," Francois Wachnick from Paris Habitat told Reuters. "We were lucky to find a passageway that allows us to collect the heat directly from the metro, without having to pay to build one, otherwise it would have been impossible." Work on the project is expected to commence next year, with testing taking place over the coming months. Earlier this year, a project was launched in Stockholm which sees local office buildings being heated using energy garnered from passengers in the city' central station.

Source: Low Carbon Economy