No, we are not talking about a Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) that uses the kinetic energy created during braking and to convert it into electricity. This technology is called piezoelectricity. It uses changes in pressure to create electricity.
Several companies are using this principle to create electricity utilizing the pressure that tires exert on the road surface. As cars travel down the road they apply pressure on the "contact patch" which is the small area of a tire that actually touches the asphalt. Innowattech, an Israeli company offering this technology, can either retrofit existing roads or build the technology into new roads. The principle remains the same. About 6 cm below the road surface, the company installs "piezoelectric generators". These act as on/off switches. A vehicle travelling over the generator turns it on for a fraction of a second, during the time it exerts force on the generator.
Placing these generators sequentially beneath a stretch of road creates many opportunities to generate small amounts of electricity. California might be the first state in the US to take advantage of the program if a house bill becomes law. Representative Mike Gatto, D-Burbank, stated in an interview with NBC LA that a "one mile stretch of two lane highway can generate enough power to power 500 homes for an entire year, or to power 120 electrical vehicles a day".
Even if that is a tad ambitious, the potential this technology represents is impressive. If utilized for new road construction only, piezoelectricity could go a long way towards shoring up straining electrical grids in an environmentally friendly manner.
Interesting information about this type of electricity. I never heard of the term before but the concept really makes sense. As the world's natural resources become scarcer and fuel and electricity become exorbitantly expensive, we will be seeing more of these new concepts cropping up by companies looking to gain a market advantage over their rivals. I believe that such new inventions have been identified very long ago, but they were shelved until the market gets the appetite to change over from its current fuel-consuming practice. The oil reserves are nearing their finish if the consumption rate remains as is, everyone knows about the dangers of nuclear power, and wind/PVC are still blow maximum efficiency. The world is facing big challenges and the cherry on the cake is the current unprecedented economic crisis. Hopefully, the world will come out of this precarious situation stronger and with new sustainable ideas.
Posted by: First Choice Power coupon | 24 July 2012 at 12:22