Harnessing the Energy Beneath Your Tires

[flintlock]

Anyone care to throw their 2 cents in about this company?

http://www.newenergytechnologiesinc.com/technology.html

As you read this sentence, enough energy is being produced to light up half a million homes. But sadly, that energy is wasted because there is no technology to capture it.

http://newenergytechnologiesinc.com/images/brakelite.jpghttp://newenergytechnologiesinc.com/images/transparent.gifThe energy I’m referring to is the kinetic energy produced by the 250 million vehicles traveling U.S. roads every day. And New Energy Technologies Inc. is developing an exciting new technology that will help capture a portion of that valuable energy.

Our technology is similar to what is used to power hybrid cars, but instead of being installed in each vehicle, it’s installed in the roadways, capturing the friction energy that is otherwise dissipated as heat.

[LargoWinch]

Anyone care to throw their 2 cents in about this company?

http://www.newenergytechnologiesinc.com/technology.html


My little finger tells me that this is another pipe dream at current energy prices...

[Starving Steve]

Anyone care to throw their 2 cents in about this company?

http://www.newenergytechnologiesinc.com/technology.html

Good luck. :rolleyes:

Maybe cars that ran on rails embedded into roadways would save a tonne of energy, but even that idea would be difficult to make practical.

The best way to solve this long-term energy crisis is nuclear power together with hydro-electricity, clean coal, and upgraded heavy oil. In the US and Canada, heavy vehicles like transport trucks might be converted to run on natural gas because we have oooooooooodles of natural gas.

I wish I were heading the Department of Energy in Washington, because I would kick all of the greenies OUT and solve this energy problem, fast. (Let the greenies working with Chou at the Dept.of Energy go back to the West Coast and smoke pot.)

[charliebrown]

don't know. not enough meat on this web site to figure out how it works, what are the installation and maintenance costs and how much energy does it generate per vehicle / mph reduction. My big question is how does it "latch" onto the car? Magnetically?

[Starving Steve]

Watching the world news on CCTV 9 (China Central Television in English ) last night here in California, I learned that China is now the world's leading producer of wind power. Even so, even with forests of windmills everywhere in China--- even with windmills in rows out into the ocean---wind produces UNDER ONE PERCENT of China's needed electric power.

The sad facts of life about green technology are only now becoming apparent to anyone with half-a-brain. But just wait, the size of the green tech boondoggle has yet to unfold in all of its glory!:rolleyes:

[metalman]

the greentech bubble lives!

[ggirod]

This is brilliant, Brilliant, I tell you!!! Rob hybrids and electric cars of the energy regeneration they get from stopping and instead sell the energy at maybe half price or less as electricity (which can be provided with a multitude of stationary power supplies). This would be workable if cars were all traditional gas powered vehicles that waste the energy of braking, but the new vehicles recover that energy and would lose about half (I would guess) of the recovered energy by roadway theft.

This is an idea whose time is passing - I hope nobody implements it because hybrids and electric vehicles will have to avoid those roadways like the plague!

[GRG55]

...I hope nobody implements it because hybrids and electric vehicles will have to avoid those roadways like the plague!

Yep. Time once again to revive the idea of putting a small wind turbine on every electric car so that as it moves forward it keeps the batteries charged all the time. Voila, no need for a plug in to take energy from the grid, hybrid engines, or any of those complications. What could be simpler?...;) :p :rolleyes:

[tacito]

Ecological engine for my next car:
- Low biomass consumption (half celulose, half grain based) plus water.
- Low metane and CO2 emissions. No dangerous polluants.
- Environment friendly residues are 100% biodegradable.
- Low maintenance and extreme durability! Can last 12 years on average and up to 35.
- Model shown is four legs for urban use. Also available with five for increased performance.
- And can serve as a pet for your children too!

Regards
http://www.fullfondos.com/animales/burro/burro.jpg

[charliebrown]

do i hear the sound of pigs feeding at the gvt. trough?

[flintlock]

don't know. not enough meat on this web site to figure out how it works, what are the installation and maintenance costs and how much energy does it generate per vehicle / mph reduction. My big question is how does it "latch" onto the car? Magnetically?

I also thought, "where's the beef?". How does this harness the braking energy? I guess you have to "invest" in order to find that out. :rolleyes:

The reason I posted this is that a buddy emailed it to me and said his broker was suggesting it! I told him that we've seen this type story before on Itulip and to be careful.

I'm still waiting for my "harness the power of the tides" idea to be taken up by one of these companies. Then I buy in.:D

[ggirod]

The idea to harness braking energy has been around since the aftermath of the first fuel crisis. I suspect Popular Science or Popular Mechanics has run articles on it. For a conceptual understanding, imagine that there was a treadmill in the road and instead of a motor you had a generator. When you put on the brakes, you slide the belt of the treadmill, run a generator, and transfer your kinetic energy to the generator. Now, for a lot of reasons that is not practical. I think what they do instead is capture the last part of the energy (the final stop) with a movable section of road that moves a bit as the car stops and that motion is turned into rotation for a generator. For normal cars it might recover significant energy, but for modern hybrids and light cars it would be a bust. Trucks, SUVs, and hulks of other sorts would generate significant energy cumulatively.

It has never been particularly practical, I think there were probably demonstration projects back in the day and now it probably isn't practical either ... but it is a good way to separate an investment from an investor.

[newnewthing]

Gee, if I jump up in the air the moment my feet leave the ground I have gained a certain momentum with an upward vector. The Earth has gained an equal and opposite momentum. However, the kinetic energy the Earth has gained is miniscule. You can't extract energy from the forces of the car's wheels against pavement - from the pavement. You can, however, convert the car's kinetic energy into electricity, a storeable form. There's a name for those. They are called "hybrid car or all electric cars" as they all use dynamic braking.

[FRED]

From iTulip.com - Energy and Money (http://www.itulip.com/forums/../energyandmoney.htm):

http://www.itulip.com/images/1oxpower.gif
:D:D:D

[Starving Steve]

Don't laugh. With green tech, this is exactly where we are headed.:mad:

[FRED]

May we also suggest this solar powered windmill?

http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/731474/6203790/0/1214204659/Solar_windmill.jpg
Solar Windmill

[cjppjc]

From iTulip.com - Energy and Money (http://www.itulip.com/forums/../energyandmoney.htm):

http://www.itulip.com/images/1oxpower.gif

:D:D:D



Too funny. Look at the animals face.

[jimmygu3]

Yep. Time once again to revive the idea of putting a small wind turbine on every electric car so that as it moves forward it keeps the batteries charged all the time. Voila, no need for a plug in to take energy from the grid, hybrid engines, or any of those complications. What could be simpler?...;) :p :rolleyes:

When I was 5 years old, I thought that the exhaust pipe propelled the car like a jet. I came up with an idea for a car that needs no gas once it's started: just put a pipe to catch the incoming wind and send it out the exhaust pipe to push the car.

Jimmy

[flintlock]

Yeah, even the cow is embarrassed. :D

[GRG55]

Don't laugh. With green tech, this is exactly where we are headed.:mad:

Maybe.

Then again, maybe not...:)

Cow 'emissions' more damaging to planet than CO<SUB>2</SUB> from cars (http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/cow-emissions-more-damaging-to-planet-than-cosub2sub-from-cars-427843.html)

</EM>Meet the world's top destroyer of the environment. It is not the car, or the plane,or even George Bush: it is the cow.


A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate...

...And their wind and manure emit more than one third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide.

Livestock also produces more than 100 other polluting gases, including more than two-thirds of the world's emissions of ammonia, one of the main causes of acid rain...
Of course all this concern about cows is spawning numerous new career opportunities in research. Is this what they mean by "green jobs"? :rolleyes:

Cowabunga! Cutting cattle flatulence to save the planet (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2003/mar/01/climatechange.climatechangeenvironment)

In the war against global warming, bovine and ovine flatulence does not immediately spring to mind as an obvious battlefront. But sheep and cows are responsible for a quarter of the UK's methane emissions.

Now scientists in Aberdeen are embarking on research into how best to cut the amount of harmful gas emitted by Britain's ruminants each year.

By cutting the amount of methane produced - a single dairy cow produces about 400 litres of the gas each day - scientists at the Rowett Research Institute believe they can significantly reduce Britain's contribution to global warming...

[Jim Nickerson]

Maybe.

Then again, maybe not...:)

Cow 'emissions' more damaging to planet than CO<SUB>2</SUB> from cars (http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/cow-emissions-more-damaging-to-planet-than-cosub2sub-from-cars-427843.html)

</EM>Meet the world's top destroyer of the environment. It is not the car, or the plane,or even George Bush: it is the cow.


A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate...

...And their wind and manure emit more than one third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide.

Livestock also produces more than 100 other polluting gases, including more than two-thirds of the world's emissions of ammonia, one of the main causes of acid rain...
Of course all this concern about cows is spawning numerous new career opportunities in research. Is this what they mean by "green jobs"? :rolleyes:

Cowabunga! Cutting cattle flatulence to save the planet (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2003/mar/01/climatechange.climatechangeenvironment)

In the war against global warming, bovine and ovine flatulence does not immediately spring to mind as an obvious battlefront. But sheep and cows are responsible for a quarter of the UK's methane emissions.

Now scientists in Aberdeen are embarking on research into how best to cut the amount of harmful gas emitted by Britain's ruminants each year.

By cutting the amount of methane produced - a single dairy cow produces about 400 litres of the gas each day - scientists at the Rowett Research Institute believe they can significantly reduce Britain's contribution to global warming...


Simple answer quit eating beef.

[GRG55]

Simple answer quit eating beef.

...and convert to goat milk...;)

[ThePythonicCow]

Simple answer quit eating beef.
Well, this gentle Cow certainly agrees with that suggestion.

However unfortunately this methane gas issue pertains to dairy cattle as well as beef.

[Jim Nickerson]

Well, this gentle Cow certainly agrees with that suggestion.

However unfortunately this methane gas issue pertains to dairy cattle as well as beef.

Nevertheless, a reduction in the beef herd should be signifcant.

[tacito]

Well, this gentle Cow certainly agrees with that suggestion.

However unfortunately this methane gas issue pertains to dairy cattle as well as beef.

Not only dairy cattle, but humans too. Being a human, I have the same objections as you about eliminating metane generating animals.

I supose that everybody knows this, but just in case: Metane (CH4) is Natural Gas. The same natural gas that will last longer than oil, but not that much longer. I mention this because I don't understand why everybody is talking about eliminating it instead of recicling.

Anybody with a design for a metane recicling balloon for cattle or for humans? :D

[ThePythonicCow]

recycling balloon for cattle or for humans? :DI only have the design for cows - see the following.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/greenwala-attachments/production/attachments/2145/large/COW_METHANE_TANK.jpg

[cobben]

"I only have the design for cows "

There is actually a risk of explosion when operating on a cow, ask any vet.

Otherwise the permanent cow-fart solution is to switch to kangaroos, who don't fart.

[flintlock]

"I only have the design for cows "

There is actually a risk of explosion when operating on a cow, ask any vet.



Talk about Ka-Poom!

[we_are_toast]

Otherwise the permanent cow-fart solution is to switch to kangaroos, who don't fart.

Are you sure about that?

http://timstvshowcase.com/kangaroo.jpg

[jimmygu3]

Are you sure about that?

http://timstvshowcase.com/kangaroo.jpg

Ah, the days when the only kids' show on tv was a middle-aged mustachioed man with a fake police badge and a stuffed animal in his pocket. :eek:

Jimmy

[raja]

Simple answer quit eating beef.
I wonder how much of bovine flatulence is attributable to their diet ? ? ? ?

Feedlot cattle are fed lots of corn, as well as soybeans, and sometimes . . . I know it's hard to believe, but true . . . old newspapers and manure (yuk!). Yet, cows are designed by nature to eat grass.

All my animals are grass-fed . . . yet from time to time I hear loud noises coming from the fields that greatly amuse my young daughter. I don't have any grain-fed animals for comparison . . . maybe flatulence is unavoidable ???

[jimmygu3]

Well, this gentle Cow certainly agrees with that suggestion.

However unfortunately this methane gas issue pertains to dairy cattle as well as beef.

I would think a combination of cutting back on consumption of beef & dairy, combined with altering the cows' diets as in the article below, should make a good dent in the carbon problems.

I was frankly surprised to read that "Studies show that the production of one litre of milk produces the equivalent of 900g of CO2." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/17/cadbury-dairy-milk-cows) That's almost an equal amount of carbon emissions to milk. As a reference point, a litre of gasoline produces 2.3kg of carbon emissions. (http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/420f05001.htm)

-Jimmy

Move to cut methane emissions by changing cows' diet (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/jul/10/ruralaffairs.climatechange) -Guardian UK

Burping cows and sheep are being targeted by UK scientists to help bring down Britain's soaring levels of greenhouse gas pollution. Experts at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Aberystwyth say the diet of farmed animals can be changed to make them produce less methane, a more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide. Farmed ruminant animals are thought to be responsible for up to a quarter of "man-made" methane emissions worldwide though, contrary to common belief, most gas emerges from their front, not rear, ends.


Mike Abberton, a scientist at the institute, said farmers could help tackle climate change by growing grass varieties bred to have high sugar levels, white clover and birdsfoot trefoil, a leafy legume, for their animals to eat. The altered diet changes the way that bacteria in the stomachs of the animals break down plant material into waste gas, he said. The institute has started a new government research programme, with the universities of Wales and Reading, to investigate how this process could be improved. A similar project in New Zealand suggested that dietary changes could reduce methane emissions from sheep by up to 50%.


Dr Abberton said: "It's very unlikely that we'll get that sort of reduction in the UK but it could still make a significant difference. Making the animals' diet more digestible can lower their methane emissions." A single cow can produce between 100 and 200 litres of methane every day. Farmers regularly re-sow their fields so Dr Abberton said the switch in diet could be relatively straightforward. Birdsfoot trefoil can be difficult to grow, he said, but part of the new project is to develop more suitable varieties.


As well as helping to reduce methane production, growing legumes such as clover could help replenish soil nitrogen levels because they naturally attract bacteria and fungi that fix it from the air. In a separate project, Giles Oldroyd, a plant scientist at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, is working on ways to genetically modify other plants such as wheat so they can mimic this nitrogen-fixing ability, an advance he called the holy grail of crop research because it would dramatically cut the use of synthetic fertilisers.


Scientists at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany, announced this year that they had developed a pill to reduce methane emissions from cattle. The plant-based pill, combined with a special diet and strict feeding times, is meant to reduce the methane produced by cows by converting it to glucose.

[cobben]

This is old news, why aren't you all busy breeding kangaroos already?

Recall reading an interesting Swedish article some years ago, quite a lot of
kangaroo meat was being imported, but none was being sold anywhere. Did it
become beef, venison, or something else before being sold? never heard the
answer.

http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=104599#poststop

google "kangaroo farts" and ye shall be saved.

A major future export business for OZ?
They should have patented those roos in the US patent office before all this got started, probably too late now.

Kangaroo farts could ease global warming
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599...-29277,00.html (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22879806-29277,00.html)

"AUSTRALIAN scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, researchers say.
. . . "

____________________________________


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7551125.stm

Switching from beef to kangaroo burgers could significantly help to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, says an Australian scientist.
The methane gas produced by sheep and cows through belching and flatulence
is more potent than carbon dioxide in the damage it can cause to the
environment.

But kangaroos produce virtually no methane because their digestive systems
are different.