If I lived on a busy through road I’d definitely want one of these outside my house. A metal ramp is moved by vehicles passing over it and generates electricity. Tests have shown that they can generate between 5 and 50kW depending on the weight of the vehicle passing over them.

We discussed this and, strictly, it’s reducing the efficiency of the cars by stealing kinetic energy generated by their engines. However the generation of that energy is producing pollution in the neighbourhood, so the drivers should pay a little back. The best locations would obviously be roads that are already due to have speed bumps installed, making the traffic calming pay for itself.

Technorati tag: Traffic, Speed bump