Great News For The Environmentally Unconscious
I know you're sitting there thinking "what can we do to make it more energy efficient to drive our cars rather than riding our bikes or walking." You're thinking that because you're lazy and don't want to give up the luxury of automated transportation. Oh. You weren't thinking that? That was just me? Figures. But there's some good news for me. Britain's Environmental Transport Association may have come up with a solution.
Piezoelectric crystals. The idea is to embed a stretch of highway with the crystals, then each car that drives over a crystal contributes a tiny bit of energy, such that a single kilometer of roadway could generate 400-kilowatts of energy. That energy could then be collected, stored and used for any number of functions.
But will it work? Absolutely. A Sainsbury's supermarket in Gloucester, UK has already put it into use, powering their checkout lanes.
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Category: Inventions, Science, Technology, Natural Resources