Researchers have already developed road ramps that harvest mechanical energy or smart cement walkways in high walking traffic areas to turn our steps into energy.
Now scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed a piezoelectric crystal that is embedded under an asphalt roadway to convert vibration into green electricity. The spin-off company in Haifa called Innowattech, will start a pilot project to test the energy harvesting system in January 2009 on a 100 meter stretch of road. The company says that theoretically a one km stretch of a four lane highway can produce 400 kilowatts.
From their web site:
Innowattech has developed a new alternative energy system that harvests mechanical energy imparted to roadways, railways and runways from passing vehicles and converts it into green electricity. The system, based on a new breed of piezoelectric generators, harvests energy that ordinarily goes to waste and can be installed without changing the habitat.
About Innowattech
Innowattech is based in Ra’anana Israel, with research facilities in the Technion Institute, Haifa, Israel.
It specializes in the development of custom piezoelectric generators for specific purposes.
The company is privately held.
The Innowattech Green Energy Solution:
The piezoelectric phenomenon was first described by the Curie brothers.
They observed that certain materials generate electric current when they are deformed.
Today piezoelectric materials have multiple uses in industry, but most work efficiently only at high frequencies.
Innowattech has developed a new breed of piezoelectric generators with a mechanical electrical association that are ideally suited to harvest the mechanical energy imparted to roadways from passing vehicles.
In addition has developed a very efficient storage system to collect and store the electricity produced by these generators.
The accumulated energy can be used for local power needs or routed into the grid.
Innowattech’s solution is optimal.
It maximizes retrieval of wasted mechanical energy converting it into electrical energy.
It then stores the energy with minimal energy waste.
The energy is also produced close to its end users.
It does not require the use and development of vast new areas as do solar and wind farms.
Innowattech 's solution is capable of producing significant amounts of electricity.
Its solution has an economical and commercial advantage over other green alternatives.
The building costs and the expected return on investment time are estimated to be much lower than for solar energy.
The solution is applicable to any place with heavy vehicle travel and not confined to specific climate and geographic areas as are solar and wind energy.
Innowattech’s advantages
• The movement energy of busy roads, railroads and runways all day long near population centers can be converted into electrical energy that can be supplied to nearby customers.
• The electrical storage system which is integrated in the roads, railroads and runways does not take up any public space and functions in all weather conditions.
• Innowattech's electrical storage system does not require any additional maintenance after its implementation.
• Innowattech 's solution can serve as information gatherers in future "Smart Roads" and "
Walter Derzko
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