N.J. Burger King Testing Energy-Producing Speed Bump

N.J. Burger King Testing Energy-Producing Speed Bump
Friday, September 04, 2009 By Rick Leventhal


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,546512,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g2:r4:c0.090370:b27542170:z0



Rick Leventhel is one of my favorite reporters for Fox News and when I saw this story I was astonished that I had not heard of it before now! A company called New Energy Technologies has a prototype device that produces green energy and it is being tested at the drive through at a Burger King fast food restaurant. Leventhal equates the device like a" flattened speed bump with long pedals across the top that press down when tires roll over them". He explains the tire force turns gears that generate 2000 watts of electricity instantaneously. The article states the “Motion Power Energy Harvester” is designed to capture kinetic energy from vehicles that would otherwise be lost when drivers hit the brakes to pick up their Whoppers". If this is successful then they would consider putting it in other high traffic places where people stop, like shopping centers, intersections, rest areas, border crossings, and toll plazas.

I love stories like this where it is exciting to think that something so simple could be produced by something that gets a bad rap like the use of our auto's being energy guzzlers. I like all the pro's to the article saying it 's not swapping energies because cars have to stop anyway. To me it's also a slap to all the food police that want us to not buy fast food. I think if this thing works like they think it will, and be a cheap renewable way to produce electricity, then there will be an about face on picking up your burger and having it your way!


I usually have an aversion to trying to do anything green because I think it is bandaid relief and does not cure the world of the ills of energy use or waste. But this sounds like a fantastic idea we can all agree on. I hope this reporter will follow this closely and let us know about production that is suppose to happen in a year. If all I have to do is get in my car and go somewhere and stop dozens of times, by the time I return home I will feel like I have actually done something good for the environment!

I really enjoyed reading this article because I felt a glimmer of hope that someone out there will eventually come up with a viable solution to our energy troubles and find something so practical it will actually work.