Heat energy is being captured from people dancing to help a Glasgow venue reduce its carbon emissions.

Glasgow arts venue SWG3 has switched on a system that creates renewable energy from the body heat on its dancefloor. Dancers’ heat is piped via a carrier fluid to 200m (650ft) bore holes that can be charged like a thermal battery. The energy then travels back to the heat pumps, is upgraded to a suitable temperature and emitted back into SWG3. The owners say this will enable them to completely disconnect the venue’s gas boilers, reducing its carbon emissions by about 70 tonnes of CO2 a year.

David Townsend, founder of geothermal energy consultancy TownRock Energy, who designed the system, Bodyheat, told BBC News: “When you start dancing, medium pace, to the Rolling Stones or something, you might be generating 250W. But if you’ve got a big DJ, absolutely slamming basslines and making everyone jump up and down, you could be generating 500-600W of thermal energy.”

SWG3 managing director Andrew Fleming-Brown said installing the system had been “a leap of faith” but the venue was committed to achieving “net-zero” carbon emissions by 2025.

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