http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/ Engadget Comments for 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/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Per bump or per year?]]>Sep 10th 2009 12:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
So it gives you 2 kilojoules of energy per second. ]]>Sep 10th 2009 12:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Per bump.]]>Sep 10th 2009 12:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 12:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Not going to happen?]]>Sep 10th 2009 1:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
The same article said in the drive through it gets about 250 bumps a day. So that's about 1/200th of a cent of electricity a day. Each year it generates about 2 cents of electricity.

Assuming it's about $1,000 to build and install it will pay for itself in 50,000 years, assuming it never needs repairs or wears out.

In short, it's a scam.]]>Sep 10th 2009 1:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Green power is the new snake oil, get it while its hot suckas....]]>Sep 10th 2009 1:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
Your math is wrong!

Assuming like you said 2000 watts over one second, which is just a guess.

2000 watts / 60 seconds / 60 minutes = 0.55555556 watt-hours * 250 bumps (your number)
= 138.89 watt-hours, which at 10 cents per kw-hour would equal 0.13889 cents in electricity.

So, to pay back $1000 it would only take 197 years and not 50,000 years!
Still sucks!

However with ten of them around the parking lot and drive-thru, using generation 3 models that harvest 3000 watts per bump and a high volume store with 400 bumps per device / per day, then we get....
3.33 kw/day
]]>Sep 10th 2009 1:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
And someone else pointed out you get two bumps per car! It's up to a whopping $8 in electricity per year!

So it'll only take 125 years to pay for itself! What a steal!

You still do better to put the money in a bank account at 1% and then just buy electricity instead.

Of course, this is assuming that instant lasts 1s. There's a good chance the 2,000 was just a narrow peak on an oscilloscope and the total energy produced per bump is much less.]]>Sep 10th 2009 1:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Because you don't usually put a speed bump in the middle of a busy street...at least if you don't want a bunch of accidents.]]>Sep 10th 2009 1:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 2:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 5:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
Way to go guys!]]>Sep 10th 2009 6:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
And if this thing sinks slightly into the road when the car drives over it, the car needs a tiny bit more power to get out of this "hole", slightly increasing its fuel consumption.

Because i hope you remember enough physics from school to know that energy can't just magically appear out of nothing.


In short this thing is equivalent to a very very slow petrol powered generator and the cost of what little power it makes gets passed on to the customers.]]>Sep 10th 2009 6:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/]]>Sep 10th 2009 11:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Burger King*
ugh]]>Sep 10th 2009 1:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 12:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
anyone know how much they cost?]]>Sep 10th 2009 12:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 12:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 8:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
So no, I don't think anyone will be pissed, and I think you're an idiot for saying that. ]]>Sep 10th 2009 12:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
And I think you're an idiot for not reading the whole comment.]]>Sep 10th 2009 1:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
nerdtalker's right, and Sean clearly has no idea what he's talking about.
+1 and -1 respectively. ]]>Sep 10th 2009 1:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 2:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 3:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
As far as I know... Braking doesn't affect mileage nearly as much as accelerating after slowing down. And that would happen whether or not one used brakes to slow down.]]>Sep 10th 2009 3:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 5:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 6:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 8:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
anytime you apply the brakes, you are converting your kinetic energy (which came from your gas mileage) into heat. In order to save gas, you want to minimize the amount of energy converted into heat, therefore, it IS excessive braking that reduces MPG.]]>Sep 10th 2009 10:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/]]>Sep 10th 2009 11:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/But no, no one will *ever* notice the loss of MPG because of it.

Show me your data where going over a speed bump once a day per week created a noticeable loss in fuel economy. ]]>Sep 10th 2009 12:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
Sorry but creating 2000W of energy in an efficient way doesn't negate the fact that Burger King (and every other fast food joint) does tremendous damage to "Ma Earth" so that it may bring you that $1 burger. That probably won't stop them from trying to market this as an "eco friendly" move however.]]>Sep 10th 2009 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/

Does it still work? ]]>Sep 10th 2009 1:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 3:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 1:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/Sep 10th 2009 2:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
I just take my bike inside with me. If it's not a vehicle, it clearly shouldn't be parked outside.]]>Sep 10th 2009 5:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/10/motionpower-speed-bump-installed-at-nj-burger-king-mcdonalds-a/
I just take my bike inside with me. If it's not a vehicle, it clearly shouldn't be parked outside.

Also, a Watt is not a unit of energy. You disappoint me, Engadget.]]>Sep 10th 2009 5:15AM