AutoblogGreen

tanstaffl

Pfft.. it only works because he's reducing the efficiency of the vehicles driving over the plates.

it may provide electricity- but it does so at reduced fuel efficiency for all the trucks that drive on the plates.

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you could put it on a down hill possible at the very bottom before going up? Could help slow vehicles a bit while capturing energy?
Pretty cool ideal, hope he makes a billion or so.
later,
E

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I agree, put 'em on the downhill side of the street.

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It'd still be stealing energy from cars that have regenerative braking. How about they just don't employ energy-stealing devices?

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I'd say that you're just being a troll. Not one car in a million has regen. braking.

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Have you never heard of the Prius? Here in Northern California it seems like one in twenty cars is a Prius.

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I wonder how much energy is created by the movement of one car...

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They could equip hybrids with RFIDs that temporarily disable the device as they pass over.

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@why not the LS2LS7?
I agree, but it will still be useful in most places where cars don't have regen braking (or they have it and don't bother to use it) in the first place. Just depends where you decide to put the plates. If you put them at a place where cars have to slow down anyway, it shouldn't hurt since the cars would waste all the energy by using their brakes otherwise.

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It's my energy. I paid for the gas to get up to speed. If I want to be wise and buy a car that helps me recover the energy, that's great, cause it's mine.

As to not using the regenerative braking, you don't have a choice in a Prius or any other hybrid. If you hit the brakes, it puts on the regen brakes, unless you hit the brakes too hard or once you get below like 10mph regen braking doesn't really work.

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I suspect that, unless there is really heavy traffic, it won't produce as much energy as planned. There are also interruptions in traffic and lengthy intervals with no traffic, which means other power sources are needed as backup.

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I am all for it and was advocating this form of 'Tidal Power' years ago when I lived in Birmingham, UK. That city is a hundred miles from the sea, but tens of thousands of vehicles head into the city on a dozen radial routes every moning, and out again every evening. Milking that tide is well worth considering - and the same in every other city (except the dead flat ones).

Clearly it has to be done in positions where - as mentioned here already - there is no ADDITIONAL energy input required from the vehicle. Such as on downward hills (reducing the amount of braking needed), and on approaches to junctions where traffic already has to halt or slow down.

Also there are many urban and suburban streets where the 'traffic-calming' measures include anti-speed bumps across the highway. These at present have the bad effect of requiring additional motive force to overcome them - and should therefore perhaps be discouraged. But if the wretched things are going to exist at all, and are going to require extra energy in driving up over them, why not at least make the bumps from something which recoups some of that energy?

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Maybe he could install the thing at airports and use it to slow planes down when they land.

No, forget that, if it ever accidently activated on a plane during takeoff...

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I also like the speed bump idea. You would not even have to put it in the ground. We have several at work in the parking lot to keep speeds down for crazy employees trying to get out of work too fast. Lots of ideas for this invention. Good luck, hopefully it won't be a lost idea.
later
E

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if it is on a downhill stretch I can see it working, otherwise it is energy theft (law of the conservation of energy anybody?). As I don't see anything in that article to indicate that it is on a downhill stretch the man is actually increasing pollution and using a highly inefficient method (the internal combustion engine through an inefficient transfer mechanism) for creating his energy.

Same thing for the Brum idea: it would add to the pollution.

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"..Same thing for the Brum idea: it would add to the pollution.."

How so? I already riuled out situations in which additional energy input would be required, and was suggesting only doing it in positions where braking is currently essential - ie where energy is at present being wastefully dissipated.

I totally agree with the rest of your post.

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They should outlaw speed bumps too, nobody shall rob LS2LS7 of his / her / its inertia. :\

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Energy theft?

Think about it. When you are driving over the road, where do you think the vibrations go? Into the ground. So instead of letting the energy just dump into the ground, we can harness some of it.

Obviously it's not the greatest source of energy because we're just recovering lost energy in transportation, but it's a great start.

If it's relatively cheap to make and maintain, seems like a good idea to me.

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"it may provide electricity- but it does so at reduced fuel efficiency for all the trucks that drive on the plates." At 15mph, these trucks are getting a whopping 2-3 mpg. So, they go down to 2 - 2.9 mpg?

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I agree with Tush. There's no energy theft here. All this is is recovering energy that is currently being wasted in the inevitable vertical movement as vehicles travel along.

This is a great idea. Any little bit of technology helps!

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