How much clog dancing does it take to power a lightbulb?

On Tuesday 2nd August Clog dancer Tudur Phillips lit up the National Eisteddfod for Wales.

Tudur Phillips, award-winning Welsh clog dancer and S4C presenter, recruited visitors entering the National Eisteddfod for Wales to see how much energy they’re generating with their feet.

Phillips was at the Eisteddfod with Smart Energy GB, the voice of the smart meter rollout, making energy visible using a smart technology footpath using kinetic tiles, created by clean-tech company Pavegen.

By enabling visitors to generate power and see how many minutes of energy use their footsteps can ‘power’, Smart Energy GB aimed to demonstrate in an illustrative way the visibility and control smart meters will bring to the way we use energy in our homes.

Tudur and his volunteer dancers generated energy by stomping on the bridge. This was shown on a large screen behind them; illustrating how much energy to power a lightbulb and a laptop or to charge a mobile phone.

Smart meters will be offered to every household, at no additional cost, by 2020, as part of a national transformation of the way we buy and use our gas and electricity. This new technology will bring an end to estimated bills and show us, via a simple in-home display, what we’re spending in pounds and pence, in near real-time.

Fflur Lawton, Head of Policy and Communications Wales for Smart Energy GB, said: “We were showing visitors to the Eisteddfod that smart technology can make energy visible – and help us get it under control. Smart meters are coming to every home, giving accurate information and visibility of what we’re spending, which is transforming the way we use gas and electricity in our homes.”

Tudur Phillips said: “It’s great to be part of such an exciting campaign making it easier for people to see and understand their energy use. Clog dancing is a high energy activity and you can see how much energy we generate by dancing on the tiles.”

Pavegen CEO and Founder Laurence Kemball-Cook, inventor of the energy slabs, said: “This is the first time we’ve demonstrated Pavegen’s technology in Wales and we’re thrilled to be at the National Eisteddfod in Abergavenny. Data from our tiles allows visitors to see how much energy they can generate with their footsteps.”