From Saturday 10 December, shoppers will be able to turn their footsteps into energy to light up over 1000 lights on the Christmas tree, a 20ft real Norwegian Spruce.

As part of if its commitment to making Milton Keynes a sustainable community, Midsummer Place Shopping Centre invites Christmas shoppers to charge the UK’s first people powered Christmas tree with their footsteps as they hunt for gifts.

‘Elf + Fitness’ instructors will be on hand to get shoppers walking across special paving slabs installed in the centre for the Christmas season that will transfer the energy in shoppers feet to power the lights. The Elf + Fitness Fanatics, all trained dancing instructors, will inspire healthy holiday cheer with festive fitness sessions around the tree from 10th – 24th December.

Midsummer Place’s groundbreaking Christmas tree was developed with award-winning sustainable technology innovators, Pavegen Systems, makers of paving slabs that generate electricity by harvesting kinetic energy from ordinary footsteps.

The slabs, made from low-carbon steel and recycled rubber, will power hundreds of LED Christmas lights for the Midsummer Place Christmas tree by capturing energy from this season’s holiday footfall.

Laurence Kemball-Cook, founder and CEO of Pavegen, says: "Every year, nearly 7.7 billion kWh of fossil-fuel energy is used to power Christmas tree lights across the world. That's enough electricity to power London for 3 years! With Pavegen's innovative clean-technology, these Christmas lights can be powered by 100% renewable energy from footsteps...now, that's something to bring festive cheer!"

Martin Hindson, Centre Manager at Midsummer Place Shopping Centre, says: “The kinetic tree is a wonderful focal point for the shopping centre this Christmas and whilst it is fun and engaging for our shoppers, it also delivers a clear message about our ongoing commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability. As a major shopping centre we are extremely proactive with recycling and work hard with our tenants to ensure we lead by example on all energy saving issues. Many of these initiatives go relatively unnoticed and take place behind the scenes but the kinetic tree is our chance to involve the public at a busy time of the year."

www.midsummerplace.co.uk