Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff - Gizmodo Comments

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

GadgetPlay — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:43:49 EDT

@ripfire4:"Why are we even discussing the science of this anyway? The system works!"

At a net loss. Nice!

@citizen024: "hybrids? ever hear of em? although i suppose not that many trucks have that yet, but this would be an investment in vain anyways."

Very good point. We're going to have enough problems with range as it is without these things leeching the power.

GadgetPlay

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

citizen024 — Fri, 02 May 2008 08:08:24 EDT

@Elcheecho: hybrids? ever hear of em? although i suppose not that many trucks have that yet, but this would be an investment in vain anyways.

citizen024

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Andham — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:32:35 EDT

@styrofoam: @bpapa9013: I saw this on the science channel as well. Anyways, the one I saw looked a little different than the picture, but on the TV show they claimed that it could power a house for a day. Anyways, the one on the science channel spun a turbine of an electric generator in a similar manner to that of how you would use a foot powered sewing machine.

Andham

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

ripfire — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:27:41 EDT

Why are we even discussing the science of this anyway? The system works!

ripfire

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

GadgetPlay — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:13:53 EDT

@Gann: "In front of stop-lights (if it can be turned off for green lights)"

It does no good to just turn it off, you would have to somehow lock the plate in the"up" position to keep the vehicles from dropping. Since the light would be red/yellow slightly over half the time, it would probably be OK to just leave it operating during the green lights as well.

GadgetPlay

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

importer50 — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:51:59 EDT

ALTERNATIVE SOURCE OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY BY GRAVITY & MOMENTUM USING VEHICLES
Question 1: What is the greatest waste of man made expending energy on this planet today?.
Answer, AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES (using a 2000 lb car to move a 200 lb person from point A to point B is like cracking an egg using a 5 lb. anvil!!!)
Question 2: How can we more efficiently UTILIZE/CAPTURE the energy "currently being collectively expended" by all those vehicles?
Answer, We build Electrical Power Generating Units (EPGU's) (apx 1 ft deep x 2 ft high x 6 ft wide) and place them next to or under, high speed roads. These units are quiet, environmentally friendly, very safe to use & requires minimal maintenance.
How it works: As the vehicle moves along the road, it runs over a slightly elevated non-skid section, apx 8in. front to back, (like the ones you see at traffic light intersections to trigger the green light for waiting autos). The surface exposed to the tires of the vehicles would be an industrial grade non-skid material that would remain flush with the road at the front and back of the section, and would be slightly elevated by a steel bar at the center (apx ¾ in.). The weight of the car drives the elevated section in a downward motion. That motion is then converted by the power generating unit, using piston, camshaft & modern gearing technologies to begin the process of generating electricity.
This is based on the principle that mechanical movement can be converted to electricity. On busy highways everywhere with thousands of cars running over the EPGU's at 65mph+/-, every hour, during certain periods of the day and night, the amount of electricity created by each EPGU would be phenomenal.
I want to emphasize that public road safety will be a top priority throughout development & never be compromised at any cost.
This technology is currently available. The EPGU's would be located under freeways that have at least a slight "downward incline" If they are, this energy source could be considered free (due to the use of "the gravity effect" causing additional momentum) vs. a flat or upwardly inclining road, which would require the vehicles to expend a very small amount of "additional energy" to get over the elevated bar, and would therefore add COST to the system. (even though that cost is a fraction of a cent, it must be considered, from a legal standpoint)
The potential energy created with zero "ADDITIONAL EMISSIONS" could help provide a large portion of the world with a whole new source of energy. It could also provoke new ways of thinking, regarding alternative energy creation. There could be many more applications based on this principal, just waiting to be discovered. This concept will constantly evolve, as it gets closer to its actual production. The concept can be expanded to include trains & many other forms of currently expending energy systems
The important political aspects will be addressed as they develop. There will be many, and much discussed! Just think… In the future you could have "all electric cars" running over the EPGU's. The gas stations located along the freeways could also have electrical power access plug-ins available. As the electric cars start to run out of power, they could pull over to those stations & power-up with the energy they helped to create. What a concept!!;)

importer50

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Accelerata — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:49:52 EDT

@bobmarley101: Potential energy by definition cannot be directly converted into electricity. When you say they depress the plates, what you are really saying is that the truck moved downwards a limited distance over a period of time. distance/time is velocity, and KE=mv^2. When the plate fully depresses, there is no longer an distance being traveled. In other words, the KE along that vector drops to 0. That is the energy used to generate the electricity.

Accelerata

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

zenpoet — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:49:17 EDT

@Gann: Don't look at me brother. I am one of those 'mericans with some will power and the ability to pass up a big mac and go for a jog instead.

I think instead of stapling stomachs, they should just staple mouths, but thats just me.

To convert it into energy, they should makes stairs, everywhere as far as I am concerned, with this technology, and do away with escalators. Think of all the energy we could amass when a gaggle of 13 year mall rats runs down the stairs, or when the 312lbs Jenny Craig failure has to go up the stairs to Dippen Dots to get her fix. That is some serious power.

zenpoet

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

thejbills — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:49:14 EDT

@jswilson64: I think Cisco-Kid is referring to the whole system, and the second law of thermodynamics (the one about entropy never decreasing). Your both right, in there is no such thing as a perfect system. The energy taken from the truck will be more than is harvested by the plate generators.

thejbills

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

importer50 — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:33:41 EDT

Here's a copy of my article I've been e-mailing out to possible interested parties for years....Very close to Terry's idea.. in fact almost the same
ALTERNATIVE SOURCE OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY BY GRAVITY & MOMENTUM USING VEHICLES
Question 1: What is the greatest waste of man made expending energy on this planet today?.
Answer, AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES (using a 2000 lb car to move a 200 lb person from point A to point B is like cracking an egg using a 5 lb. anvil!!!)
Question 2: How can we more efficiently UTILIZE/CAPTURE the energy "currently being collectively expended" by all those vehicles?
Answer, We build Electrical Power Generating Units (EPGU's) (apx 1 ft deep x 2 ft high x 6 ft wide) and place them next to or under, high speed roads. These units are quiet, environmentally friendly, very safe to use & requires minimal maintenance.
How it works: As the vehicle moves along the road, it runs over a slightly elevated non-skid section, apx 8in. front to back, (like the ones you see at traffic light intersections to trigger the green light for waiting autos). The surface exposed to the tires of the vehicles would be an industrial grade non-skid material that would remain flush with the road at the front and back of the section, and would be slightly elevated by a steel bar at the center (apx ¾ in.). The weight of the car drives the elevated section in a downward motion. That motion is then converted by the power generating unit, using piston, camshaft & modern gearing technologies to begin the process of generating electricity.
This is based on the principle that mechanical movement can be converted to electricity. On busy highways everywhere with thousands of cars running over the EPGU's at 65mph+/-, every hour, during certain periods of the day and night, the amount of electricity created by each EPGU would be phenomenal.
I want to emphasize that public road safety will be a top priority throughout development & never be compromised at any cost.
This technology is currently available. The EPGU's would be located under freeways that have at least a slight "downward incline" If they are, this energy source could be considered free (due to the use of "the gravity effect" causing additional momentum) vs. a flat or upwardly inclining road, which would require the vehicles to expend a very small amount of "additional energy" to get over the elevated bar, and would therefore add COST to the system. (even though that cost is a fraction of a cent, it must be considered, from a legal standpoint)
The potential energy created with zero "ADDITIONAL EMISSIONS" could help provide a large portion of the world with a whole new source of energy. It could also provoke new ways of thinking, regarding alternative energy creation. There could be many more applications based on this principal, just waiting to be discovered. This concept will constantly evolve, as it gets closer to its actual production. The concept can be expanded to include trains & many other forms of currently expending energy systems
The important political aspects will be addressed as they develop. There will be many, and much discussed! Just think… In the future you could have "all electric cars" running over the EPGU's. The gas stations located along the freeways could also have electrical power access plug-ins available. As the electric cars start to run out of power, they could pull over to those stations & power-up with the energy they helped to create. What a concept!!;)

importer50

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

jswilson64 — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:31:27 EDT

@styrofoam: What part of "up to" didn't you understand? :-)
One house fits the definition of "up to 1750 homes," doesn't it?

jswilson64

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Collins1 — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:18:21 EDT

That Volvo lorry looks The Business.

Collins1

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

styrofoam — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:14:57 EDT

Wait a second- how the heck are 2500 trucks passing over a series of plates going to deliver enough power for "up to" 1750 homes?

Are we talking about a single LED at each household? How the heck does one truck going over a hydraulic-plate generate enough energy to power 7/10ths of a house?

Somebody's being awfully optimistic, I think.

styrofoam

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

jswilson64 — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:56:05 EDT

@Cisco-Kid: The energy liberated by dropping 1kg vertically 1cm is exactly the same as the amount required to raise that 1kg by 1cm.

What's not the same is the efficiencies of the mechanical systems involved.

jswilson64

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

DaOtter — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:49:59 EDT

@badweasel: Because those are blatant lies, never publicized truthfully, and produce significantly less power than is functionally usable. Being able to power homes, though, is a significant ability.

Since trucks have to drive anyway, why not harness just a little bit of that power back? If you all seriously think this is gonna hurt driving that much, I pity your brains. They must be lonely.

DaOtter

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

DeadWriter — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:46:44 EDT

It cuts down on noise also!

DeadWriter

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Gann — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:36:05 EDT

@zenpoet: We could just cut to the chase and make a battery implant that sucks the fat out of you and converts it into electricity.

Gann

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

bpapa9013 — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:24:18 EDT

I saw this like two years ago (and in England I believe) on the science channel's "Beyond Tomorrow" (formerly Discovery's "Beyond 2000")

bpapa9013

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

zenpoet — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:20:15 EDT

@Maksimir: And the great part about that is that it would actually cause the foot traffic to work a little harder, thus maybe helping the ongoing obesity problem, at least in the U.S.

zenpoet

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Cisco-Kid — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:57:07 EDT

@bobmarley101: The problem is that if the road is completely level the truck then has to go up a tiny bit on the other side of the plate, which slows the truck down a little. But that's incidental, and not a part of the power-generation system.

It isn't incidental - the amount of energy recovered from a truck falling 1cm will always be less than the amount of energy required to lift that truck 1cm. The 2nd law is a pain that way. Unless the vehicle is trying to slow down anyway, it is stealing from that vehicle.

Cisco-Kid

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

sisedi — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:52:08 EDT

You can't get something from nothing, so it steals energy from trucks. This should be illegal, just like stealing an induced current from power lines is illegal.

sisedi

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

GiltProto — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:44:39 EDT

@bobmarley101:
Actually isn't that the exact power generation system? As each wheel comes up again after pushing down t plate (which moved the hydraulic fluids which turned the generator) kinetic energy in the vehicle is now converted back to potential energy which naturally slows the vehicle.

I think the whole slowing down thing for braking that everyone keeps talking about is a minimal property of the device. First of all you'd need lots and lots of such devices along a downhill ramp to actually slow anything down significantly. Indeed the whole point of the gizmo is to only extract a small amount of energy from a moving vehicle. There are far better ways to generate electricity by braking a vehicle.

I think where this technology might be a benefit is where the electricity could be harnessed to power remote stoplights or facilities where it doesn't make sense to bring in long distance power lines because of the cost. But to power thousands of homes, well that's just lunacy.

GiltProto

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Gann — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:36:14 EDT

Of course once we all drive electric cars, the energy can be more efficiently captured by our vehicles' brakes.

Gann

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Gann — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:31:57 EDT

Put this on:

Offramps
Steep hills on the 'down' traffic side
In front of stop-signs
In front of stop-lights (if it can be turned off for green lights)
In every parking space (only works if it takes energy to enter but not to leave)

Put this anywhere else and I will buy property under some high tension lines and start "recycling" the electromagnetic fields created by the juice in the lines to offset the mpg I am losing.

Gann

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Boden — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:29:39 EDT

I would like to install these on the highway near my house to serve as a "noise tax." Assuming of course that vehicles passing over the plates doesn't induce even more noise.

Boden

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

badweasel — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:29:39 EDT

Sounds like a perpetual motion machine to me. The guy is a cook!

Seriously, why is it that you cover this concept in a positive light, but when someone tries to harness power from say gravity, magnets or the earth's rotation they are called crazy?

badweasel

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

guypatsy — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:28:29 EDT

The energy theft version could be a good way for busy roads to make money without toll booths. I'd be willing to bet that this model is a lot more fuel efficient than waiting in line to pay your toll.

guypatsy

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

bobmarley101 — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:20:41 EDT

@bobmarley101: In other words, what @ab12 said.

Also, again being picky but this time to myself, that was supposed to be "its potential energy."

bobmarley101

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

phlavor — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:19:34 EDT

The Federal Government is using them at Points of Entry (at least in the South West)where you have to slow down anyway. Combined with solar, they are looking to put Border Station facilities "off the grid."

But more to the point, there will never be a magic bullet that solves the energy crisis. Things like the Dragon Power Station combined with solar combined with wind combined with increased efficiency in electronics combined with conservation will go a long way toward solving the problem.

phlavor

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

SgtMac02 — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:17:56 EDT

@ludwigk: I made no assumptions of it's implementation. I said "It's a great idea though if done as already noted by NOT lowering your fuel economy. If they placed this on, say, every interstate off-ramp."
I was referring to the last paragraph of Jason's post that had already made this point clear.

SgtMac02

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

SgtMac02 — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:12:50 EDT

@Monty: I believe they already tried that at Initech with some unfortunate end results...

SgtMac02

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

bobmarley101 — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:10:00 EDT

My point was that the generation part of the system doesn't actually steal any kinetic energy from the trucks. When the truck drives onto the plate, the plate sinks (actually slightly increasing the kinetic energy of the truck by adding a down component to it). But the energy taken to push the plate down isn't taken from the truck's kinetic energy, it's taken from it's potential energy. The problem is that if the road is completely level the truck then has to go up a tiny bit on the other side of the plate, which slows the truck down a little. But that's incidental, and not a part of the power-generation system.

bobmarley101

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

ludwigk — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:04:20 EDT

@Elcheecho: @SgtMac02: Right, you're both assuming that its being implemented this way, but that isn't what the article says!

Taken from the article:

"Fast-forward eight years, and here's Kenney, dressed in a crisply ironed shirt and slacks, standing in the compound of the largest terminal operator at the 255-acre Port of Oakland. A long line of trucks snakes its way to the San Francisco Bay, where two cargo ships wait to be loaded. One truck rumbles at about 15 miles per hour over a group of narrow plates embedded in the asphalt, and a moment later, a solar-powered shed beside the road begins to groan and rattle ominously."

Sounds like they are implemented more like speed bumps than a break assist.

ludwigk

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

j4sk868 — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:57:16 EDT

im for it.

j4sk868

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

SigmundTheSeaMonster — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:56:52 EDT

Put one of these in front of every McDonalds, DQ, and other fast-food franchise and generate AC off of the passing tonnage.

(Come on, you BioDiesel folks would have nothing if there weren't over-weight folks)

SigmundTheSeaMonster

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

ripfire — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:41:52 EDT

@Monty: Duh! It's called "interest" and card companies already keep it all for themselves.

ripfire

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

1roll20s — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:41:49 EDT

Cool idea. Just so long as its only installed in places you want to slow down anyways. I wonder what the cost to install and maintenance is like vs power generated though?

1roll20s

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

ab12 — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:40:41 EDT

@Discofunk: The energy is harnessed by the trucks "falling" onto the plates, since the plates depress under heavy weight, so you could say they are almost given potential energy which is then turned into kinetic energy. I think that both are manipulated, you could argue either way

ab12

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

ripfire — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:39:05 EDT

@bobmarley101: Uhh. No. You can't pass potential energy from one object to another without inducing kinetic energy. As the truck passes over the plates, the potential change produces kinetic energy. The plates themselves drives the generators.

ripfire

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Castle1914 — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:37:38 EDT

This was already done on io9 here

In the end you're still using energy that could have gone to moving the vehicle.

So I quote myself @Castle1914:

Castle1914

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

SgtMac02 — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:36:36 EDT

@Maksimir: Now THAT's an idea that I do like! Using the normal human foot traffic and harnessing that energy. Especially here in the US where we have a population of people who generally need a little more exercise anyways. You could put it in Subway Stations, shopping Malls, crosswalks in busy cities, the entrance to your favorite strip club...anywhere that gets lots of foot traffic...

SgtMac02

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Monty — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:35:32 EDT

I am calling up Visa and asking them to allow me to take one one-hundreth of a penny from each transaction. No one will notice the money going away because it is so small, and in less than a few minutes I will be a millionaire. Genius!

(Someone please smack the nimrod that came up with the concept of stealing energy from vehicles powered by fossil fuels to generate electricity.)

Monty

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

thejbills — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:35:03 EDT

@bobmarley101: You can't make energy from nothing. Although you're correct that it is gravity pulling down, it is the combustion engine that is powering the vehicle. So the source of the energy must be the combustion engine not gravity (which is really redirecting the kinetic energy downward). The road gives way a little bit to make the electricity, you could even think of it as driving through sand though this is an exaggerated point. Hence more friction while driving.

That's a good point about putting them places where trucks would need to break anyway like off ramps or going down a mountain.

thejbills

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

SgtMac02 — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:34:06 EDT

@Geeum: I was actually jsut reading the TreeHugger articles that this post came from. Someone there mentioned the same idea about the wind turbines. Unfortunately (as another astute reader had pointed out better than I can explain) using the turbines would actually disrupt the airflow in such a way as to cause more of a hindrance to the vehicles. This really WOULD be stealing energy from them rather than harnessing energy that would have otherwise been wasted.

SgtMac02

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

ripfire — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:32:38 EDT

"this would be even better for the times when you actually do want to slow down, like going down a hill, where they could load up on these plates and slow down cars"

@GiltProto: There are a lot of places where it can actually be a benefit like downhills as mentioned above or freeway exit ramps.

ripfire

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Maksimir — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:29:41 EDT

I always wondered why they didn't apply this model to human traffic... like in a subway station or something.

Maksimir

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Discofunk — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:28:07 EDT

@bobmarley101: Not that I'm claiming I know anything about physics.. but isn't it the case that potential energy is "stored" energy and when it is used it becomes kinetic? Thus the electrical generation is from kinetic energy? I dunno....

Discofunk

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Geeum — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:25:28 EDT

Oh my god I had this idea years ago! The downhill part would be more of a benefit to the provider of energy. Maybe also add some wind turbines to the side of the road to capture all the side moving wind force these trucks generate as well.

Geeum

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:24:34 EDT

If the companies take care of the part of the road this is installed, I don't see the problem. With the enormous amount of unkept roads, bad drivers (which account for most of my 'slow downs'), traffic jams and other hazards having this in the road wouldn't phase me in the slightest. I think it's brilliant.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

robotleawesome — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:22:50 EDT

@SgtMac02: ah, awesome point.

robotleawesome

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

OG512 — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:22:27 EDT

the trucking companies should flip the bill in the first place! then the drunk drivers!

OG512

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

robotleawesome — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:22:12 EDT

Hold on, so in the future our electric cars will run electric generators to give us less electricity back than we originally contributed?

awesome.

robotleawesome

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

SgtMac02 — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:21:22 EDT

@ludwigk: It's a great idea though if done as already noted by NOT lowering your fuel economy. If they placed this on, say, every interstate off-ramp. Everyone needs to slow down anyways. Lots of traffic. It's not going to hurt your fuel efficiency if you're already trying to stop. all it will do is save you some wear and tear on your brakes. Granted, it's probably not generating as much power as that article initially claims, but still...every bit counts.

SgtMac02

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

bobmarley101 — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:18:33 EDT

Not to be super-picky, but it's actually the gravitational potential energy of the truck that's being used, not its kinetic energy.

bobmarley101

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Elcheecho — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:18:23 EDT

@ludwigk: what else are you gonna do what that braking energy?

Elcheecho

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

Minotaar — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:18:05 EDT

Or you could use the plates to enforce the speed limit

Minotaar

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

ludwigk — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:15:37 EDT

Lower my fuel economy AND perform a lossy chemical combustion to mechanical to mechanical to induction generator conversion? Sign me UP!

ludwigk

Dragon Power Station Harnesses Kinetic Energy From Passing Vehicles to Power Stuff

GiltProto — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:09:38 EDT

Yeah, so they've figured out a way to steal energy from other people and convert it to electricity. On top of that such a small amount of fuel energy is converted to motion in the first place that this has to be one of the most efficient methods of generating electricity. It might be useful in cases where the vehicles benefit in some way from the produced energy (as in the cited example to help slow down trucks) but otherwise the vehicle owners should bill the company that owns the energy stealing device.

GiltProto