What is Unplugged?
Eddi Törnberg has built a prototype desk called Unplugged that uses a combination of green energy tricks to power itself. The carpet is woven with piezo elements that generate power whenever subjected to mechanical stress (walking on it or rolling your chair). A flowering plant is a microbial fuel cell, extracting energy from the sun. And the chair is designed to exploit the Seebeck effect. As one’s body warms the metal on the top of the chair, the bottom of the chair is kept cool through heatsink fins. This difference in temperature emits energy.

While Unplugged doesn’t appear to generate enough electricity (yet) to run a laptop--it appears to only power a small lamp, and not necessarily in a sustained manner--the real point is that these energy sources are invisible, self-contained and, most importantly, entirely passive. Other than its unfinished wood surface, Unplugged resembles any other desk. Check it out..