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304 Comments
- alcapwn9, on 06/15/2009, -15/+237If there's already speed bumps there, why not steal some kinetic energy and turn it into electricity haha. Probably a good return on investment.
- amabaie, on 06/15/2009, -104/+222Environmental? Having gasoline-powered vehicles use extra energy getting over the bumps to power the cash registers? That would depend on how the cash registers are powered, the source of the electricity. I suspect these might save the supermarket money (tranfering energy costs to customers) but I'm not sure I would call them environmental.
- atgmac, on 06/16/2009, -4/+96Inaccurate title. The article doesn't mention "speed bumps" at all. It's merely plates in the road.
- Mystlyfe, on 06/16/2009, -4/+84@loudthing
Read the damn article man. They expect to start making a profit off of these in under 2 years. That's not too bad. - bgolat, on 06/16/2009, -2/+65FYI: They are referred to as "Kinetic Road Plates" in the article and even show a picture of them flat on the ground. Clicking the article usually helps.
- Hu99, on 06/16/2009, -1/+56The store is called Sainsbury's, not Saintsbury's. Unless "green speed bumps" are now considered a reason for canonization.
- elnerdo, on 06/16/2009, -3/+51People have a hard time understanding how these things work.
The only way that this generates any power is by moving downward under the weight of the car. Energy is force (the weight of the car) multiplied by distance (the distance that the car moves downward). If it moves the car down by one centimeter, and if the car weighs 1000 kg, then you have generated 200 Joules of energy. However, those 200 Joules all came from the car's potential energy. The car will need to burn gasoline in order to regain that potential energy in the form of height. - inactive, on 06/16/2009, -12/+59You fail at thermodynamics.
- ZebZ, on 06/16/2009, -3/+48Or, the system was added in a place where the cars already were and were mostly already coasting and slowing down, and whose existing kinetic energy wasn't being put to any other use.
Running over one of these is no less an energy waste than braking... which you'd already be doing anyway. - jayko481, on 06/15/2009, -26/+70the kinetic energy of the cars driving over the plates, which is not necessarily greater than would be used on a normal road, is transfered to a generator that produces electricity to power the registers. So since this is the source of the energy, it is in fact, "green".
- merreborn, on 06/16/2009, -20/+55"If there's already speed bumps there"
There aren't. Look at the pic in TFA. It's flat. There are no speedbumps.
These things exist solely to steal your gasoline. - PFS1, on 06/16/2009, -1/+32Given that majority of cars aren't hybrids and that the cars will no doubt have to come to a full stop before entering the road, any energy that is people here are arguing to be "stolen" would be wasted anyway when the car brakes. Given that this slows the cars down a touch before they get to the stop sign and throw ALL of their kinetic out the window, it's not a bad idea.
- muzzy, on 06/16/2009, -6/+33I like how everyone here with a basic grasp of thermodynamics is being buried...
"Boo, don't bring science into this! You evil environment hater, you!" - athrasher, on 06/16/2009, -3/+30All of those pointing out that it would require engines to use more fuel might be theoretically right, but in practice I doubt these would have any affect on most vehicles driven by humans. Sure, if you insist on maintaining an absolutely constant speed in the parking lot, then it could, but if placed in areas where people are likely to be slowing down anyway (a crosswalk in front of the store or an area where people typically are turning into parking lot lanes) then it could reduce the energy needed from brakes to slow the car down.
- chr00t, on 06/15/2009, -19/+45Pretty cool
- ricksite, on 06/16/2009, -3/+27Nothing like a "Kinetic Road Plates" story to separate out who does and doesn't understand basic physics.
- merreborn, on 06/16/2009, -1/+23And installing/maintaining those turbines would cost how much?
The thriving Drano industry suggests that these devices would frequently end up clogged with crap. - l4ckthereof, on 06/16/2009, -17/+38Lets clear something up here, all, and I do mean all (as in 100%) of the energy that this system produces is generated by the cars that drive over it, that means that the energy was taken from the cars. That energy came from the gasoline that the car engine burned. It may seem that the difference between driving over the ground and driving over one of these plates is negligible, and that is correct. But negligible multiplied by thousands of cars over hundreds of days adds up. And ultimately their check out will be powered through two stages of inefficiency: car engines, and then this plate system. As opposed to just plugging into a wall outlet. In fact, this solution is far less green than just running the check out off a the grid. Please people, high school level thermodynamics (with a bit of common sense) , its not so hard.
- radialturkey, on 06/16/2009, -0/+20Except they would probably spell it right.
- inactive, on 06/16/2009, -15/+34Are they going to pay me for the energy my car generates for them?
=D - P4Paarth, on 06/16/2009, -5/+24You would be seriously amazed at some insane ways there are to save LOTS of power and money. There are almost countless ways to do so. In my physics class, somebody found out that installing little turbines in the bathroom sinks/showers/toilets of all American houses would generate 75 billion dollars worth of electricity each year.
- ceredron, on 06/16/2009, -5/+23@merreborn
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that speedbumps are built on flat surfaces... - Hyter, on 06/16/2009, -2/+19Usually I am slowing down so I don't bottom out my car, not pressing the acceleration.
Either I am a lead foot or you drive like an old lady. - pak314, on 06/16/2009, -1/+18Yes, instead of the yearly 10% increase in prices they will now only increase it by 9.99%.
- Chakat, on 06/16/2009, -0/+17Depends on where you place them. If you place these things in front of the driveways, then by and large you can use the energy of an already decelerating car. Thus not robbing a car of any energy, and in fact, can extend the life of the customer's brakes by some small amount. Also, wouldn't the customers be paying for that electricity anyways in the cost of the products they buy?
- inactive, on 06/16/2009, -7/+23That is only true if the cars are trying to slow down. Then the stolen energy would be beneficial. But if a car is acelerating, or trying to maintain speed, the energy needed by the vehicle HAS to be greater than what it would be if it was just a normal road.
- commentposted, on 06/16/2009, -3/+18Dugg hard for knowledge.
- anthropodeus, on 06/16/2009, -1/+16are you blind? look at the thumbnail! there is no bump whatsoever.
- Thorpe, on 06/16/2009, -0/+15Next time, I'm coming by jetpack.
- Phych, on 06/16/2009, -1/+16They're flat...like your mother Trebek!!
- merreborn, on 06/16/2009, -1/+15Their parking lot is private property. If you chose to drive through it, that's on you.
- muzzy, on 06/16/2009, -1/+15Jayko, how would it possibly *not* take more energy to drive over a speed dampening plate in the road than a flat piece of cement? Think about it.
Imagine if you covered a field in these, and had two cars race side by side. One driving over the plates, one driving on flat cement. Which would win the race? The answer should be obvious. - mctom987, on 06/16/2009, -8/+21Interesting idea. Too bad that energy comes from my gas tank. ):
None-the-less, I would love to see this idea adopted in other shopping centers, or any place speed bumps are used. - inactive, on 06/16/2009, -1/+14Breaking the laws of thermodynamics is bad. Mmmkay.
- radialturkey, on 06/16/2009, -1/+14Since they'll have less overhead, your costs will be lower if you buy their goods.
- hangglide, on 06/16/2009, -8/+20Wish I could dig you up 10 times. Just because you remove the source of the energy from the electrical grid does not make it green. It takes energy to get the registers to work, period. You can get it:
1). From a the electrical grid (less loss and less energy wasted). or
2). From a generator in the road pressed from the power provided by a car which is powered from gas that was mined and refined (more loss and more energy wasted).
Option two could be more efficient if the kinetic energy in the car would have been lost in the breaks anyway. This is often not the case as people usually slow down before they hit the bump then accelerate over it.
All that happened was the market moving the bill from them to their customers in tiny little increments and more total energy was spent. - gasoline, on 06/16/2009, -5/+17There is no damage to your car if you obey the law and keep the speed down.
- dectk06, on 06/16/2009, -3/+15Let's put these at every McDonald's.
They'll be lovin' that *****. - senfo, on 06/16/2009, -2/+14You don't even understand how they work and already, you're badmouthing them: http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_ima ...
Image Source: http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/chec ... - askantik, on 06/16/2009, -2/+14elnerdo... yes, no energy is created. But the speed bumps will be there any way, so rather than the energy lost simply being wasted, it's used to power the cash registers. I don't get how you folks aren't seeing that no energy is being "wasted" here because regular speed bumps would still be there even if these weren't. Not wasting the energy in speed bumps is, like, the whole point of this. Ugh.
- Mystlyfe, on 06/16/2009, -0/+11On a slow shopping day the registers are used less too ;)
- Chakat, on 06/16/2009, -0/+11@shark72:
No, not creating energy from nothing, but using otherwised wasted energy, such as from a car slowing down to enter the parking lot. A braking car is already bleeding off energy into heat, having it bleed into electricity would be more efficient. - greenlight2001, on 06/16/2009, -0/+10WTF did I just read?
- Gemfinder, on 06/15/2009, -11/+21Agreed. It's getting more than one use out of one fuel source.
If not green, it's certainly practical. - tas08, on 06/16/2009, -0/+10Thank you for pointing this out. Half the comments I've read here indicate that no one is actually reading the article because they're all arguing about energy lost using the breaks before, and accelerating after speed bumps and other such things.
*facepalm* - elnerdo, on 06/16/2009, -5/+15For every Joule that goes into the supermarket, at least that many Joules were stolen from the cars driving over the speedbumps. The energy is not created from nothing.
- thumperings, on 06/16/2009, -0/+10Or... the homeless, instead of collecting cans, could run laps for a can of corn.
- Halsfield, on 06/16/2009, -0/+10if they choose to pass that on.
- Mockylock, on 06/16/2009, -0/+9I prefer to make my speed-bumps out of coal.
- twomeyw23334, on 06/16/2009, -3/+12So instead of transferring minuscule amounts of electricity from high efficiency power plants, you're suggesting it is "green" to instead transfer energy from gasoline engines which run with around 30% efficiency and then have further loss in the mechanical to electrical conversion.
The energy wouldn't be "wasted" in a speed bump anyways because 1, these aren't speed bumps, and 2, the energy required to move up a speed bump is then fully returned on the way down the speed bump, minus an insignificantly small amount of friction loss.
I swear, 99% of "green" energy solutions violate basic physics. All this crap is pure marketing B.S. praying on physics challenged greenies. -
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