Abu Dhabi students roll out carpet that generates green energy

The carpet developed by four university students will be available in the UAE market soon.

A team of four female students from the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) were set to shake-up the region's interiors industry with their energy generating carpet.
Students Maitha Jumaa Al Kaabi, Zinab Ahmed Al Haddad, Razan Youssef Kharouf and Hamda Ahmed Al Derei are the co-founders of Bezeo, an innovative start-up based out of UAEU's Science and Innovation Park.
The team, who were finalists in October's Gitex start-ups pitch competition as well as guest speakers at UAEU's Challenge For Innovation closing ceremony last week, first started working on the concept in January with one goal in mind: to create a device that allows everybody to leave a positive footprint on the environment.
"This carpet is based on material that can generate electricity from our steps and weight," said Maitha Jumaa Al Kaabi, the company's chief financial officer. "By stepping, walking or jumping on the carpet you can generate green energy. This harvested energy can then be a supplier for different equipment and devices. Our device can help in reducing the consumption of non-renewable energy, which results in lowering the levels of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere."
The carpet can be installed anywhere and to the customer's specification, said Zinab Ahmed Al Haddad, Bezeo's CEO. More broadly, she says Bezeo aims to support the UAE's Vision 2021 for a sustainable future. "Bezeo is providing an environment-friendly device which offers the chance for everyone to contribute in achieving the UAE's vision, therefore leaving a positive footprint on the environment," she added.
The team came up with the concept while working on a separate project. "One of the members of our group was working on the same material that we are using for another application and when we researched more about this material we thought about the possibility of using it on floors to generate clean energy," said Hamda Ahmed Al Derei, the firm's chief technology officer.
The material Al Derei referred to was a form of piezoelectric material that can generate electricity when subjected to a mechanical stress.
"As engineers we were concerned with the technology but then we learned that we need a great deal of knowledge from the business side to build our company. We are still facing some problems in the pricing and final shape of the product."
How the carpet generates electricity
It is made of piezoelectric material that can generate electricity when subjected to a mechanical stress. This means by stepping, walking or jumping on the carpet you can generate green energy. This harvested energy can then be a supplier for different equipment and devices.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com