Recovery

I've been doing research for my 3rd year dissertation lately, it's going slowly. I still haven't choosen a topic but I'm trying not to worry, hopefully something will jump at me before it's too late.

Anyway whilst reasearching I cam accross an article in Icon magaizne (Issue 075 Sept. 2009), it's on a house in paris by the architect R&Sie(n) and they have come up with a completely alternative approach to environmental design. To briefly summerise the design uses glass beakers to cultivate bacteria which can be used to aid nitrogen fixation in plants.

Many hours later I was struck with a though, we harvest light and heat energy from the sun, kinetic energy from the wind, the sea and dams, but, to my knowledge, there is no device to capture energy in the form of sound. I'm not a physicist so perhaps this is imposible? But as an architecture student I am aware of materials which can absorb sounds and disperse them. With the enormous levels of acoustic pollution in our cities could we capture this waste energy and recycle it as a power source? Could we charge a phone by using it? Or power a radio by singing along? (Power boost for hitting the right note!) It's likely audio vibrations are to small to be a useful power source, but the concept of a room full of bells, vibrating, almost silently, has evoked a wonderful image in my mind.