Odd idea

[helowrench]

Has anyone heard any idea along these lines?

Imbedded coils in the tarmac of the national highway system, along the raodways on downhill stretches.

It seems to me that this could harness wasted energy for a relatively low cost (once the long term is realised)

After all large trucks are forced to hit their brakes to maintain a safe speed, so the energy is being dissipated, and several tons of ferrous metal moving across a coil should create some usable electricity........

PS side benefit would be reduced (probably immeasureable) wear of braking components.

Discuss

Rob

[TomW]

helo;

So, where are the magnets in this setup? Just coils and iron won't make power.

Cheers.

TomW

[Flux]

He intends to keep the roads running north /south so that the earth's magnetic field induces magnetism in them for the down hill journey. The up hill journeys need to go east west to avoid the magnetic braking when not needed.

Probably better to energise the coils and convert to a linear motor and save the emissions from the car engines.

Flux

[finnsawyer]

Since this came up, let's use the copper and magnets to build windmills along railroad corridors instead and electrify the railroads.  Then get rid of the long haul trucks.

Here's something else for the crew.  At the Ann Arbor, Michigan U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's vehicle testing lab they are trying to develop a fleet of UPS hydraulic hybrid delivery trucks that can recover and reuse energy generated by braking.  This should get a 70% increase in efficiency to 18 m.p.g. in fuel efficiency.  Doesn't that give you a warm feeling?