Now that’s an alternative
According to FOXNews, New Energy Technologies has developed a prototype alternative-energy generator that is being tested at a Burger King® in Hillside, New Jersey. Called the Motion Power Energy Harvester, the plan is that this device will capture kinetic energy from vehicles when drivers brake to pick up their order. The ingenuity comes in collecting that energy and distributing it in a cost-effective way.
FOXNews further reports, “No one is suggesting the device in the drive-thru lane would provide enough power to run the restaurant, including franchise owner Drew Paterno, but he jumped at the offer to install the prototype at his location on Route 22, and says he’d consider placing an order for a dozen of them.”
At Reach and Teach’s Just Lists blog, other alternative-energy sources are making the news:
- Tornadoes — Create a controlled tornado 650 ft in diameter and between 1 to 12 miles high to power up to 200,000 homes. (Read more about tornadoes in the story reported by Business Week.)
- Beer — Sierra Nevada is powering its brewery on a mixture of natural gas and methane (a by-product from the water-treatment process used by the brewery).
- Miniature nuclear power generators — A nuclear reactor about the size of a hot tub that Hyperion claims can fuel 20,000 homes for up to a decade.
- Lasers — By 2030, install solar collectors 22,000 miles above Earth that will use lasers to beam the energy back to surface stations.
- Trees — Voltree is planning to use the small amount of electricity generated by a slight pH imbalance between a tree and its surrounding soil as an energy source.
- Japanese commuters — A power-generating floor of discs made of piezoelectric material that convert vibrations into electricity. It’s believed that enough energy is generated to power the computer displays and ticket machines at train stations.
LiveFuels is working toward growing, harvesting, and processing algal biomass into fuels and other valuable co-products.
Finavera is developing offshore power plants that consist of patented wave-energy converters based on proven, survivable buoy technology. Clusters of these small, modular devices called AquaBuOYs are moored offshore where the wave resource is the greatest. These power plants are designed to provide clean, renewable energy for large population centers.
Finavera is not just about waves, they are also interested in wind and have built wind-power projects in both Ireland and Canada.
Considering the advancements in the last few decades, it does seem as though a real alternative to our current dependency on fossil fuels is attainable in our lifetime.
Do you think we’re on the right track?