As the COP26 conference continues in Glasgow, a nightclub in the city has announced that it will trial a new technology that converts heat generated by dancers into renewable energy.

SWG3 has confirmed that it has begun installing the Bodyheat system, developed by Townrock Energy, and expects it to be ready for use in 2022.

The system works by collecting hot air from people on the dancefloor, cooling the venue and using it to recharge a thermal battery. It is estimated that it will save around 70 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year.

David Townsend from Edinburgh-based Townrock tells BBC News: “All this energy is currently left in the club and it gets too hot, or it’s dumped into the atmosphere by a more conventional air conditioning system”.

Explaining his company’s ultimate ambitions – and presumably aware he currently has a worldwide audience of climate-concerned decision makers in his country at the moment – Townsend goes on: “We’re really excited to actually take this global”.

“We would love for different clubs in different cities to start to compete to be the most green”, he adds, “and see off the back of that how they can get more customers, because the clubbing generation right now are very enlightened with regards to climate change and it will make a big difference for clubs to say that they’re net zero”.

The news follows Coldplay’s announcement of plans to make their 2022 world tour more environmentally friendly, including by putting down a kinetic floor that will capture energy from people dancing to help power the show.