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Pitch

Use the piezoelectric effect to harness vibration of cars on highways to generate electricity.


Description

Summary

A few years ago, I read an article about a piezoelectric shoe that the British military tried to build.  The article indicated the shoe as
piezoelectric power plant idea failed, but there was some discussion of installing piezoelectric units under the London Underground platforms, where vibrations from pedestrians and trains would be turned into electricity.

The article gave me the idea of putting piezoelectric units under US highways where the vibrations caused by the traffic would be used to generate electricity.

A cursory scan of piezoelectric information indicates that a 52 kg person with a foot print of 116 cm^2 wearing a piezoelectric shoe that displaces the plate 5 cm two times per second generates about 5 W.

A study of ground borne vibrations from highway traffic showed the traffic created vibrations of 10 to 15 Hz.

Putting those together and doing some "back of the envelope" calculations shows that it would take on the order of 100 million piezoelectric units (as described above: 116 cm^2 area, vibrating at 10 Hz, with a 5 cm displacement) to generate the same amount of electricity as Hoover Dam (about 2 GW).  Those 100 million units would fit under a few hundred miles of single lane road.  Given the number of highways surrounding the major metropolitan areas in the US and the traffic on those highways, rush hour traffic could easily generate several Hoover Dams worth of electricity.

Recently, the Paris Marathon used piezoelectric tiles to turn the vibrations of marathon runners into electricity.  Scaling up that technology to be used on roads is the next logical extension.


Category of the action

Reducing emissions from electric power sector.


What actions do you propose?

Start with the piezoelectric units used in Paris Marathon and the piezoelectric films developed by Princeton University engineers  and enhance their durability.

Once durable units have been developed, deploy them on a section of a highly travelled roadway.  Monitor the power production and durability.


Who will take these actions?

Federal, state and local governments will have to be involved and any agency dealing with maintenance, repair and upkeep of roads.

Local power companies should be invloved to couple the piezoelectric electricity to the grid.


Where will these actions be taken?

The San Francisco Bay is an ideal area given the amount of traffic and the high level of high tech firms and research universities (UC Berkeley, Standford, etc.) and government labs (LBL, LLNL, etc.)


How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?

Emissions could be reduced during times of high traffic.  Rough calculations shows that it would take on the order of 100 million piezoelectric units (as described above: 116 cm^2 area, vibrating at 10 Hz, with a 5 cm displacement) to generate the same amount of electricity as Hoover Dam (about 2 GW).  Those 100 million units would fit under a few hundred miles of single lane road.  Given the number of highways surrounding the major metropolitan areas in the US and the traffic on those highways, rush hour traffic could easily generate several Hoover Dams worth of electricity.


What are other key benefits?

Increased effenciency by capturing some of the "waste" energy of automobile commuting.


What are the proposal’s costs?

Unknown.


Time line

Unknown.


Related proposals


References