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Specially-designed paving slabs that convert kinetic energy from footsteps into electricity are to power lighting at the Westfield mall, at the 2012 London Olympic site.

The recycled rubber slabs, known as PaveGen, harvest energy from footsteps to deliver small bursts of electricity to nearby appliances. Each step produces just enough energy to power one LED-powered street lamp for 30 seconds. The slabs are also able to store energy for up to three days, according to its designer 25-year-old Laurence Kemball-Cook.

The initiative will see 20 tiles scattered along the central crossing between London's Olympic stadium and the recently opened Westfield Stratford mall and expects to cater for roughly half the mall's outdoor ligjhting needs from the 3 million visitors that are predicted to pounds the pavements of the site in its first year.

The technology was also recently used an outdoor festival where it harnessed the power of a quarter of a million footsteps turning it into enough energy to charge 10,000 mobile phones. The inventor powers off-grid appliances such as lighting, illuminated street maps and advertising.

The company behind the technology has already won a slew of awards, including the Big Idea category at the UK's Ethical Business Awards and the Shell LiveWire Grand Ideas Award. 

Richard Miller, head of sustainability at the UK's government-funded Technology Strategy Board said: 'As much as it's an effective, common-sense source of some sustainable electricity, it's also a great way for people to engage with the issue of sustainability ... to feel like they are part of the solution in a very immediate, fun and visual way that doesn't make you do anything you wouldn't already be doing,' said Miller.

Kemball-Cook is optimistic about future applications of the techology: 'The average person takes 150 million steps in their lifetime, just imagine the potential.'

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