http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/ Engadget Comments for Supermarket generates piezoelectric power in parking lot http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 10:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 16th 2009 2:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 10:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
T' NORTH SHALL RISE AGAIN, PET.]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 12:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 2:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
I appreciate your attempt at wit... but saying what you did is like me telling you that you're stealing my oxygen to combust your petrol.

]]>Jun 15th 2009 3:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 7:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 16th 2009 2:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 10:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/

I think they should install big ass magnets on the bottom of all those semi trailers. Put coils in the highways. It would also pick up bits of metal junk on the streets, win win!]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
There is a little thing called conservation of energy. If the car sinks even slightly then it will need to use more energy to get back up again and this energy is likely to be more than is generated by the store system. If however it is (as some people mentioned above) at a point where either the cars are slowing down or on a down ramp then it is essentially clean energy harvesting. Adding magnets to all trucks may well help clean up the disgarded metal on the roads but unfortunaltey would have a dramatic effect on the fuel consumption.]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
Unless the tracts are very resistive when you drive over them, I don't see how this can necessarily rob of us our money. I see lots of whining though.]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/If it generates energy by pressing down something, then the car has to go up again after it, and thereby consuming more fuel.
For the single car (and therefore the single customer) it wont matter, since the amounts of fuel are probably in the mililiter range, but i doubt the overall efiency of the whole thing!
If its generating 30kW, those get entirely generated by the burning of petrol, but probably way less effiecient than directly at a power plant. So i would guess that this could be less environmentally friendly than to simply get the energy out of a powerplant.

Of course if the placed it in an area where you would waste energy anyways (under a ramp oder something similar) then it might be different.]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 2:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 3:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
If I understand the diagram and piezoelectricity, then this is actually not wasting gasoline. The ground doesn't "dip" so much because the crystals don't have to be compressed a lot to generate a voltage. We're talking movement on the order of millimeters in movement, at most. A minute amount of deformation (due to applied force) can result in a usable amount of voltage, at least when you have enough of the crystals being compressed simultaneously. One crystal by itself is nothing, but line up a few thousand of them and you're getting some decent output. Your car doesn't have to overcome a large dip in the ground nor a (speed)bump.

That's more than my 2 cents, but there you go :)]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
I agree. These pseudo-scientists keep talking about how they're stealing energy from your car and blah blah.

That energy is ALREADY being wasted. It goes to the road, depresses it, makes it vibrate, and eventually destroys it. This is just using that.]]>Jun 16th 2009 7:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 10:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
Unless you're counting this perpetual motion machine I have in my back pocket.]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
They hang out in parking lots, you know.]]>Jun 15th 2009 3:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 16th 2009 6:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
It's sort of like the tax system.. Take 25% of my check, then take another 10% when I shop, tax me for phone service, my property.. we aren't a democracy, we're communism and we just don't know it, and we don't even get free health care.]]>Jun 15th 2009 10:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
Must be why so many people tried to escape from east germany. They didn't like democracy.]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
In practice, communist regimes tend to be more fascist than communist. You can't have a communist revolution brought on by a few - you need most of society rising up at the same time.

That has nothing to do with the topic though.]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 12:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 12:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
I've always thought that gathering up lots of small amounts of energy from something as large, heavy and inefficient as a motor car is quite bizarre. Yes, such a device may generate a healthy amount of energy, over time, but why not concentrate on making the inefficient heap of metal even half a percent more efficient, which given all the cars travelling through the car park would probably save equal or more amounts of energy overall.]]>Jun 15th 2009 10:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 10:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/How is using the engine in my car to generate electicity more green then using a power plant?



]]>Jun 15th 2009 10:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 12:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 3:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Using the same concept as above but for sidewalks in major urban areas to power street lights or something. But I don't this this version used hydraulics.]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 12:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
~the more you know~]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
"Generating 30kw of energy in an hour" is like saying "generating 70mph of speed in an hour." Notice the redundancy there? 'Watt' is a *rate* just like 'mph', not a quantity.

So we can only guess. Does it actually generate 30kW? For checkout registers?! That's a HELL of a lot of energy. Did the original source state 30kwh (kilowatt-hours) over a period of time, like a week? That'd be 178 Watts of power, which is a lot more reasonable but probably still not true.]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/
Not a bad or evil thing, but not much to get excited about, either. I wonder if they'll bother to maintain it in working order, or just quietly switch it off when it costs 10x as much to maintain this system as it does to purchase equivalent power from the grid.


]]>Jun 15th 2009 11:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/15/supermarket-generates-piezoelectric-power-in-parking-lot/Jun 15th 2009 11:09AM