Good vibrations!
California Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angles) introduced a bill (AB 306) in February that creates a pilot program to harness the vibration in highways and convert it to electrical energy by piezoelectric generation! The bill passed the State Assembly’s Natural Resources Committee yesterday and will move to the Assembly Transportation Committee for a vote next week.
Piezoelectric generation captures the energy that cars, trains, and people generate as they move across surfaces. A 0.6-mile (1 km), single-lane road can generate up to 44 megawatts of electricity in one year, enough to power 30,800 homes. And rush hour coincides with peak energy usage….
Israel already uses piezoelectric generation on its highways, and Italy plans to install the technology on the Venice-to-Trieste Autostrada.
So what do you think, U.S.A.? Is it time to CATCH UP, or what? 
Funding for the test project in Northern and Southern California would come from EXISTING funds already set aside by California’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program. The sensors built by Israeli company Innowattech and Michigan-based PowerLeap are inexpensive, but a figure for installation of the technology itself was unavailable.
There is a $50 billion backlog of road maintenance that could make installing sensors a breeze. (OH, once they get the $50 billion, of course…! 😉 )
The backlog is another reason that motorcyclists keep one eye glued to the road surface!
-Bill at
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