How Traffic can power low-cost electricity for cities

Mexican entrepreneurs have developed a new low-cost system that can generate electricity using traffic flow and the technology could soon be used to light up cities.The development has potential to produce sufficient electricity to power up a household through a device that "catches" the force of the moving cars."This is a technology that provides sustainable energy and could be implemented at low prices, since it's a complement of already existing infrastructure: the concrete of streets and avenues," Hector Ricardo Macias Hernandez, developer of the system, said.[caption id="attachment_1260217" align="alignleft" width="380"] Representational image: PTI[/caption]Hernandez said that at a global level there are no records of similar projects, with exception of an English patent, but with the difference that in the European country piezoelectric floors are used, which are too expensive for developing countries.The technology consists in a system that integrates a ramp-step - elaborated with polymeric material similar to the ones used in the manufacture of tires - that elevates to five centimetres above the level of the street.While receiving the impact of the vehicle, this ramp exerts pressure over a bellows.This artifact contains air that is expelled at a certain pressure through a hose, which travels to a tank where it is compressed and relaunched to an electricity generating turbine.Hernandez also said that the accumulation of electric energy is proportional to the flow of cars over a determinate spot.However, in places with low vehicular flow, several ramp-steps could be placed to multiply the impact of every individual vehicle.The developer added that the technology could also be implemented in places with high pedestrian flow.This way, the steps of the people would generate electricity according to the laws of gravitational energy, and this principle could be implemented in places like the subway.According to Hernandez, this development is translated in a source of sustainable energy that implies a low execution cost.PTI