Harvesting
– key to a sustainable energy strategy
Millions of kilowatts of kinetic energy are created every
day (and night) by unmanaged sources within our current global culture. Energy that
is unfortunately lost as heat or movement. A thoughtful strategic plan for
energy management requires focus on finding ways to capture, store and
distribute this kind of energy.
This area is typically divided into two general
categories:
·
Movement: piezoelectric
devices containing ceramics or polymers can self-generate power through being
squeezed or stretched.
·
Temperature: thermoelectric
devices based on materials that create a charge through changes in temperature
There are many places where energy could be captured and exploited.
Large scale:
- bridges shaking as cars roll over them
- subways zooming through subterranean tunnel
- heat from airplane engines and smokestacks
Small scale:
- people walking on urban streets or in office buildings
- pushing a cart through a grocery store
- waste heat from vehicle exhaust pipes
This field represents an exciting new area for
exploration and for #futurework. Share your thoughts.
##
Here
is a BBC article about a company in England called Pavgen building floor tiles
that capture energy. For info on the Metrology of Energy Harvesting go here.
2 comments:
Chris,
this is a very interesting concept. In the developing world, people walk everywhere. Imagine shoes that capture that energy and allows them to sell it.
Jean-Luc Charles
Jean-Luc,
Thanks so much for your comment. Yes - I agree,- there is tremendous potential benefit for using this technology in developing countries. I imagine there are many energy-generating activities that could be captured. Certainly walking is a great one. Maybe the movement of livestock. Or activities associated with an agrarian lifestyle such as plowing a field, planting seeds or even harvesting a crop. Translating age-old activities into electricity to power the 21st century - what an exciting meshing.
Chris
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