Israeli scientists turn rush-hour traffic into electricity

"I am afraid that this scheme,whose spokes-lady doesn`t even know that the unit of power is watts not the ridiculous watts/hour" Watts or kilowatts is a unit of measurement that refers to momentary power output. If one wants to express that over time, it would be "per hour". I realize that the term kilowatt hour exists; it means kilowatt per hour. But you seem to not understand either term. Your scientific credentials are in serious doubt

True, there is no "free lunch" First. The terms used for electric energy are probably the reporter's not the scientists' Second. there is much wasted energy during "steady" driving (not accelerating) and downslope driving that should be harnesed. If you do not know HOW the system works (I don't either) don't chuck it.

Once again Israel steals from the Arabs! All street traffic rightfully belongs to the Palestinians! (Seriously, mazel tov guys!)

"Microsoft`s Israeli engineers" You name it. Employees of Microsoft. A company which has employees from dozens of countries, but only ONE from which originate claims that the nationality of employees makes Microsoft products Jewish ... Not even the most idiotic German would claim that AMD processors are German, though actually assembled in Dresden.

i would not be that sure. On the opposite side, we install everywhere around solar batteries and noone claims that the Sun loses more energy because of those batteries. One has to define the system. In this case, it would be a car (as energy container), molecules of the ground in the vicinity of this car and a piezo device (energy storage/transmitter). This device essentially stores (or channels out) some fraction of energy it takes. There is no direct contact between the piezo element and a car, but unlike the solar energy, there is _some_ contact because of the ground. In a scenario without a piezo element, the pressure gradient would pass through the volume of the ground in place of that piezo, and the energy would be lost anyway. With piezo, some fraction of this energy is just used. I guess that, because of it, right below the piezo element the pressure gradient is weakened.

Honestly, as someone who writes on the history of political uses of technique in Israeli project since the mid-19th c., my hat off for you for single-handedly putting these sloganeers back to their place. For the rest I would give the advice of reading the award-winning Jewish sociologists in order to understand how the political precedence builds up your "technical" fascination with this modest and trivial test. Perhaps you will have start seeing the fact that it is precisely what you singularize as a proof of Jewish superiority that makes the Nazi Germany science overshadow all western powers who divided and transplanted entire Nazi factories, labs and scientists as they were, upgrading the domestic economies and sciences. What should one make out of it? It's hard to get rid of the complex of the messianic people. Start from distinguishing technique and politics, and I say don't forget to take example from Axel in it.

If you like this idea , I have another one for you. And since we are all BRILLIANT Jews this ought to save the State of Israel. Keep the door of your refrigerator open to keep you room cool.(This would also make a great patent for Technion)

If you are using a moving vehicle as a dynamo to generate power, that means that the vehicle will get reduced mileage and you gain nothing. This has to do with the conservation of energy and the perpetrators of this scheme ought to go back to school and study engineering !!!!

Charlotte writes, "The Windows operating system was developed by ISRAELI developers at Microsoft-Israel also in Haifa! BOTH Cisco and Microsoft use Israel EXCLUSIVELY to invent new solutions and products." Microsoft's Israeli engineers have certainly made significant contributions to both Windows and Office, building on a legacy architecture and specifications out of Redmond. Windows is nonetheless a wretched OS. And note that Cisco just bid for Norway's Tandberg, rather than Israel's Radvision. Still, its detractors aside, Israel remains one of the world's premier innovation factories. This, despite its deficiencies in the education system. Yet another "miracle", I guess.

"but I guess one cannot state outright from the principles of physics, whether the balance between saved (in piezo) and lost (in additional gas) energy is positive, negative or zero." Er, actually, one can. The principle is the second law of thermodynamics, and the answer is negative, that is, you lose.

In effect the drivers are paying for the electricity via their gas bills, as the energy comes from their engines, at the expense of km per litre. Good money for the operator of the system, at the expense of the drivers. Also, not very 'green', as all these car engines aren't very efficient.

Honestly, as someone who writes on the history of political uses of technique in Israeli project since the mid-19th c., I lift my hat off for single-handedly putting the these sloganeers back to their place. For the rest I would give the advice of reading the award-winning Jewish sociologists in order to understand how the political precedence builds up your "technical" fascination with this modest and trivial test. Perhaps you will have start seeing the fact that it is precisely what you singularize as a proof of Israeli superiority that makes the Nazi Germany science overshadow all western powers who divided and transplanted the Nazi factories, labs and scientists as they were and upgraded the domestic economies and sciences. What should one make out of it? It's hard to get rid of the complex of the messianic people. But it will be easier if you will start from distinguishing technique and politics, and don't forget to take example from Axel in it.

The road system will probably work because the car energy dissipated into the roadbed with the cells is the same as(or less than)the energy dissipated into the roadbed without the cells. The surface asphault deformation is the same, but the roadbed interior deformation may not be. Better would be the incorporation of piezoelectric cells into the supports for solar cells and billboards. This would allow the wind resistance of these structures to be utilized.

If anyone can break the ME oil monopoly, it'll be the Jews! Their lives depend upon it. What a grand sense of humor G-d must have, selecting the right person for the right task, Jewish as is the way of genius. More to come.

Never fails to amaze me the genius of Israeli Jews. ( and Jews from everywhere for that matter) Absolutely marvelous. While the terrorists lick their wounds, Jews are making real progress at helping mankind. No wonder G-d chose the Jews, superior in every way! Makes you scratch your head and go WOW!!!

It's sad to think how much positive potential contribution to the World (and in so many spheres of life too) was lost when the Nazis wiped out so much of European Jewry. Just imagine (if you are able to imagine at all?) how much more advanced Germany would be today had they had the 'Sechel' not to exterminate their resident jewish population. Instead of spewing hatred on this website, try do some honest self reflection. I guarantee it will make you a better human being. Same goes to you, Ian.

"A patent for the first wireless phone as we know today was issued in US Patent Number 3,449,750 to George Sweigert of Euclid, Ohio on June 10, 1969." "Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher and executive is widely considered to be the inventor of the first practical mobile phone for hand-held use in a non-vehicle setting. Cooper is the first inventor named on "Radio telephone system" filed on October 17, 1973 with the US Patent Office and later issued as US Patent 3,906,166" "The first commercial citywide cellular network was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979"

I may be out of line, but how about we wait and see. Seems that the reactions to this new technology are split between the Israel bashers and Israel Lovers, with a few fence sitters thrown in for starch. Axel, well we all know what goose-stepping sounds like, has offered up nothing but cheap racsim, and obviously comes here for some human contact. Sad. As for the science, let us wait and see. Ian cetainly has nothing to lose, since the thought of solar power in Britain is hilarious. For all those who are ctitical, again, just wait and see, it could end up helping you. If it does not work then so be it, nothing to get racist about.

My invitation was: "You are (like many others who failed to answer) invited to enumerate which Israeli-owned patents are contributing to my cellphone and computer." Your answer enumerates patents and copyrights held by American companies. If only you could copy correctly the text from the well-known brag-site you used ... but even that is asking too much.

I definitely am not a scientific ignoramus.If the system did not interfere with the cars there would be no energy generation. Rather than waste money on this pie-in-the-sky scheme,it would be better to invest some research funds into developing better road structures that allow cars to run more efficiently and use less fuel. THREE CHEERS FOR ISRAEL!!!

Get the facts before you react: 1. The system sits under the road and doesn't interfere with the cars at all. 2. The energy that is generally dissipated into the ground is used for generating electricity. 3. It's a fact that it generates electricity. If it can be scaled up economically is an open question.

Some of the contributors have the same problem that we have in Britain,especially amongst the government ministers and so-called environmentalists.They have no grasp of even basic scientific principles yet pretend to be great experts. In regard to this issue the important thing is to have regard for the laws of thermodynamics.For all practical purposes,energy can neither be created nor destroyed.There is no such thing as a perpetual motion machine. Keeping these simple rules in mind can save a lot of expensive mistakes.I am afraid that this scheme,whose spokes-lady doesn't even know that the unit of power is watts not the ridiculous watts/hour,is more a triumph of marketing than sound technical application. THREE CHEERS FOR ISRAEL!!!

"the energy comes from nowhere" Einstein must be turning in his grave ... also producing energy from nowhere.

it sounds like a relatively simple system,probably cheaper and less intrusive then a windmill.

On the face of it seems a great idea but nothing comes for free especially in energy. The system is a transfer mechanism of energy from the cars traveling above to the electricity generators. End result the cars will use more gasoline to generate this electricity at an efficiency rate of below 40% it would be more costly that normal power generation and for sure much more polluting. Nice concept for the naïve but not a energy saver

Elhas tizy - if you don't understand it, ask your friend Mark Lincoln

'would gladly accept anything good from Israel, if i ever met one' What's this dude smoking? Was he raised in a Austrian basement?

Another invention from Jewish scientists! Keep it up - you amaze us all !!

to destroy in a fraction of second what you try to put together for months.You're too slow. Don't you agree Axel Muessigbrod?

Axel, I love you.

Nice try...but this idea of generating electricity by surface touch was installed in a dance floor in the USA over 4 years ago. Israel's idea, which is a good one, is a further development of the concept and not a break through invention.

and it will be a perpetual motion machine. Because what's genuinely remarkable about this invention is that the energy comes from nowhere, and at no loss in efficiency to the automobiles.

a sane intelligent comment....

Am Yisrael Chai! What a nation/people we are. Now if only more of the world caught a glimpse of stuff like this.....

I really do not have the time or want to put in the effort to browse around looking for patent numbers. We all know that the Israelis have researched and come up with many hi-tech inventions. Yes the cell phone being one. Probably Motorola holds the patent and Israeli companies get royalties. What is important is coming up with these ideas.... and the Israelis are doing this in a big way. Give them that at least. Surely there must be at least one Jew or Israeli that you do not dislike.

Motorola ISRAEL invented the cell phone!The batteries for the phone are patented by Tower Semiconductor Ltd. pf Migdal Haemek!Pentium NMX Chip, Pentium 4 microprocessor and the Centrum processor - all developed by Intel in Haifa!The Windows operating system was developed by ISRAELI developers at Microsoft-Israel also in Haifa! BOTH Cisco and Microsoft use Israel EXCLUSIVELY to invent new solutions and products! That's just a start. I would print more now, but your implosion has become so extensive, any more would gut you allowing your Antisemitic drivel to flow out and need to be flushed! Go peruse your Mein Kampf again and calm down http://www.israel21c.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1202&catid=56:technology&Itemid=62 http://www.israel1.org/Apps/WW/Page.aspx?ws=5f2f7cb2-6f25-4d71-83b2-06c1ca5ae51b&page=cca081f8-81de-4bce-bfea-d922cd488919&fol=2892dfbd-2d02-4667-be43-cbb0b7d09733

You obviously didn't visit the website I proposed www.israel21c.org and yes we have our temporary educational problems but we will cope with them and we are nevertheless still a few generations ahead of all our peaceful neighbours..

Apart from knowing where the slash key on the keyboard is, you don't display any bright ideas ...

Jeez can't you all jsut see the goo din something. Cars will be driving on the road anyway, if these things generate Leccy when pressed they why not benefit from what is already happening (i.e. the cars driving). The longer in use the more offset the installation costs are, and if done when new roads go down then even cheaper, so money out of noting really. Depends on your outlook all you angry people out there, either you see the full half of the glass or the empty.....

"difficulties to accept anything good from Israel." 1) would gladly accept anything good from Israel, if i ever met one. 2) am following a tendency in israeli media to hype anything which appears as a technical or scientific achievement, while the israeli education system declines to third world standards (see latest OECD rating)

if a car runs on a street, the energy is anyway dissipated all around, in form of heating the asphalt and deforming it. If there are some small elements able to pick up some part of this energy, then of course they may require a car to eat up a bit more gas, but I guess one cannot state outright from the principles of physics, whether the balance between saved (in piezo) and lost (in additional gas) energy is positive, negative or zero. It should depend somehow on materials and fraction of surface covered by those elements.

You deserve a prize for inventing another word game with my first name. Usually I am presented with variations on "axle" (english). It's great to see the Jewish genius at work.

So where is the energy coming from? the air? from free energy fairies?,sorry no free meals here --- from the cars. By stressing the piezo crystals in the asphalt the cars momentarily and very minutely & unoticably slow down, so the driver compensates by slightly accelerating, often subconciously and thus using more gas more carbon emssions and so on. So for gods sake why not just put agenerator by the road side surely more efficient. By the way --- for a few years now a disco has been running in London by using piezo crystals under the dance floor, dancers dont mind having the energy taken away from them 1 because they like to sweat and 2 because the disco runs only on this energy for an ecological pretext which attracts its green clientele.

Axel...right enough... go back on your dance floor please. You sweat out anti-semitism, man! Just relax and enjoy some hopeful positive alternative ways to recycle energies. You looser///

Take a look at the video and brochure found on the Innowattech website. A nice merger of mechanical and electrical engineering with very pragmatic applications and cost savings. For those who seek energy independence, this is a nice move in the right direction and hopefully will be joined by similar energy-reuse applications.

Now if I were Axel, and I knew that my name meant "armpit" in my mother tongue (Achsel), I would be frustrated and mad at the world, too. Maybe the Germans should invent some deodorant so he stops stinking!

while it is true economies of scale bring down the costs of almost anything we lack enough information to say if this system will be cost effective (though I hope it will). Also underestimate the power of bureaucracy to screw-up any good project (the IEC has a bad history with alternative energy) Lastly this will have little or no impact on how much oil Israel imports. It will affect how much coal and natural gas Israel burns (which is also largely imported, but from friendlier locations).

No one ever said this was some kind of breakthrough or revolutionary technology. No one even stated the concept of using cars running across roads to generate electricity was developed in Israel. All the article said was that this particular system was developed by that Israeli company. I bet you would get angry if an Israeli company came out with a new type of wind turbine design. You would claim wind energy has been around for ages, of course it has, but technology changes. Get a grip on yourself!

You are (like many others who failed to answer) invited to enumerate which Israeli-owned patents are contributing to my cellphone and computer. You are (like all the others) never heard again, presumably.

"The civilized world can breath a sigh of relief knowing they can start telling the Islamists where they can stick their oil!" You overlook a little problem: The traffic creating that tiny amount of piezoelectricity is running on combustion engines ...

Talking as a Chartered Electrical Engineer,I cannot help but feel that a project manager who uses an unknown unit like 'kilowatts of electricity per hour'(it's actually nonsense),isn't credible. When it comes to energy there is no such thing as a free lunch.The extracted energy has to come from somewhere and probably comes from increased drag on the vehicles and increased fuel consumption. THREE CHEERS FOR ISRAEL!!!

Many issues trouble him greatly it appears: Hitler did not succeed; the day of the "ghetto" Jew is over; significantly more Jews per capita than any other group win the Nobel Prize and othr international laudatory awards; Israel has been recognized as a Wrold Patent Center for the sheer volume of patents originating there (including most of the patents that operate Axel's cell phones and computers so he can access his favorite Aryan web sites). I guess it is all too much for him.

for the calls to boycott this! I mean, let's be real, the Arabs refer to Haifa as "occupied lands." In fact, if you check the renewed charter issued by Fatah at their meeting in June, both Tel Aviv AND Haifa were identified as "districts of the Palestinian State." So, in their eyes, since the invention comes from an "occupied Palestinian district," the product must be boycotted. I am confident the UN, Eurabia, and others will follow the Islamist terrorists' lead. The civilized world can breath a sigh of relief knowing they can start telling the Islamists where they can stick their oil!

This information had been published around year ago in Maariv, apparently, with some schemes of the road (I have this picture stored somewhere). I have a strong feeling that we will pay for this electricity from our pocket, on the gas stations. Otherwise, conservation energy law does not work. To produce the electricity, this piezoelectric coverage of the road should undergo a mechanic deformation produced by the car weight, which should increase the resistance to the car moving and rise the gas use. Exactly, as in the dancing room, light is produced thanks to the energetic young people.

As with any new technology costs can run very high. With proof of viability, which in turn would generate advanced interest, the cost obviously is reduced dramatically. What we can see is one more step in the direction of the end of dependence on Arab, Venezuelan, and Russian oil - all States hostile to the US and our way of life!

Axel Again you are unsatisfied Axel we are not talking about your Local Pub Disco floor The man who applied Piezoelectric materials to get your Disco Pub Running should have gone one step forward and apply it to traffic too, seems he did not think of it. Has anybody else thought of it, until now, No! That is the genius of it! P/S By the way in regards to your post from 26/08/2009 It would be nice to know that The man who invented the combustion engine automobile was Siegfried Marcus a Viennese Jew, and as for the German guy who invented the electric automobile his name is M. Davidson and he too was a Jew. Yet, I prefer to travel by bus rather then drive my car!

The article doesn't mention "invention" only "developed a method of generating electricity from road traffic". If,as you say, you previously saw already a similar system why wasn't it put at use, developed, industrialized etc.. probably because the "inventor" (whoever he was) had apparently not the technical skills to further develop it, nor the knowledge nor the idea to apply it for practical use and on a bigger scale. You are probably the same Axel (Muessigbrod)from Germany I have been debating with years ago! Still difficulties to accept anything good from Israel. Try www.israel21c.org

Amazing! if true... absolutely brilliant!! Kolakavod!!

This is the sort of thing I enjoy reading about. The BIG questions are cost. Capital investment, and maintenance. If they are low enough, this could be useful.

Years ago I saw a TV feature about a disco where the energy for lighting was fed from piezo elements under the dancefloor. Another exclusive "Jewish" achievement - besides sliced bread.