In today’s era, energy demands are exponentially high and energy resources are depleting rapidly. It’s time to come up with some innovative and brilliant ideas to generate environment friendly and low cost energy without utilizing the already becoming extinct energy resources. The following list is a compilation of some excellent ways to generate power. The ways follow the law of conservation of energy.
11. By Playing Golf or Cricket
A golf, cricket, tennis or baseball player uses a lot of his or her energy in swinging the club, bat, racket or base back and forth. This kinetic energy generated by the player can be stored for later use. The stored energy can charge the cell phone, laptops and other gadgets later. The device is initially designed for golf players. It includes the hand grip only and not the actual club. This gadget is envisioned and designed by Mac Funamizu.
10. Car Washing
The innovative device designed by Vandenbussche, POWA Water Generator, is just a small turbine that is placed in between the hosepipe used to wash to cars or water the lawn. As the water rushes through the pipe, the blades of the small turbine turn and generate electricity.This company envisioned the system to charge the batteries of the electric cars but this electricity can be used for other purposes also.
9. Cycling
The Crown Plaza Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, came forward with an exciting and innovative way to generate power. The system includes the guests staying at the hotel and cycles. They offer a free meal to any guest who produces electricity for the hotel on an exercise bike attached to a generator. Guests will have to produce at least 10 watt hours of electricity which is around 15 minutes of cycling to get a meal vouchers worth $36 (26 euros). This system gives health benefits as a by product to the generated electricity. The energy produced can generate energy to run a laptop for approximately 30 minutes. The idea is easy to implement and can be implemented by anyone on an individual’s level.
8. Exhaust of a Vehicle
The unconsumed fuel of the vehicle comes out from the exhaust in the form of heat. This heat can be harnessed to generate electricity. Thermoelectric generators convert heat into electrical energy by making use of a temperature gradient. The greater the temperature difference, the more current can be produced. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM are working on a project to capture and utilize the residual heat in automobiles.
“The temperatures in the exhaust pipe can reach 700 degrees Celsius or more,” says Dr. Harald Böttner, head of the Thermoelectric Systems department. “The temperature difference between the exhaust pipe and a pipe carrying engine cooling fluid can thus be several hundred degrees Celsius.” This temperature difference is used to generate current. This electricity can cover a fairly good proportion of car’s power requirements.
7. Solar Panels on Rooftop and in Backyard
An interesting way to generate electricity is by covering the roof of the house with a layer of solar panels. These panels serve dual purpose as they in addition to generating electricity provide insulation and lower the temperature of the house. The panels can also be placed in the backyard.
6. Dancing on Floor of a Club
Till date we had been of the view that clubs are the maximum consumers of electricity as the music and the lighting systems consume a lot of power on daily basis. Now the clubs are an excellent place to generate power too. The idea was implemented by a club, Bar Surya, in London, that re-outfitted its floor with springs. The springs when compressed by dancers, produce electrical current. This current is stored in batteries and consumed to run the devices in the club. According to the club’s owner, Andrew Charalambous, the dance floor can now power 60 percent of the club’s energy needs.5. Snake
Anaconda is a snake with a rubber tube body, 200 yards in length or longer, filled with nothing but water. The snake is capable of generating 1MW (Megawatt) of power per year. The set up contains harnessed snakes, allowed to swim. The waves in the sea stimulate a ‘bulge wave’ which passes down the tube and gathers enough energy to drive a turbine in its tail. The electricity generated by the turbine can be captured and carried to shore by cables. Groups of 50 anacondas could each generate enough electricity to power 50,000 homes. The project is being developed by the Checkmate Group said.
4. Waste Tea Leaves
A Pakistani scientist, Dr. Syed Tajamul Hussain, working at National Center for Physics (NCP) (Islamabad), invented a nano-catalyst with his research team, to produce low carbon emission bio-diesel and ethanol from used tea leaves. The nanoparticles can produce 560 ml of bio-diesel from each kilogram of used tea. If scaled up to a commercial basis, it would be a giant step towards production of alternative energy resources.
3. Heat Up Roads
Concrete roads absorb a lot of heat. A company from Holland, Ooms Avenhorn Groep bv, came up with a brilliant idea of using this heat to generate power. The heat can be extracted and used. Here they use the heat to warm water running in pipes under the roads. This warm water can be used to generate electricity as well as can be supplied to houses and buildings. This system provides hot water to the buildings while keeping the roads ice free in winters. This reduces gas bills and road maintenance and can produce electricity too.
2. Walking on Special Tiles
In Japan piezoelectric tiles are being used to generate electricity. This picture is taken at the Tokyo Station where people walk on piezoelectric tiles which in turn generate electricity. Subways, airports, shopping malls and MRT stations are places where hundreds of thousands of people walk everyday e.g. 2.4 million people pass through the sprawling Shibuya Station on an average week day. “An average person, weighing 60 kg, will generate only 0.1 watt in the single second required to take two steps across the tile,” said Yoshiaki Takuya, a planner with Soundpower Corp. “But when they are covering a large area of floor space and thousands of people are stepping or jumping on them, then we can generate significant amounts of power.” So every step matters and the combined power generation is amazing and impressive. This idea needs to be implemented worldwide.
1. Antimatter
Antimatter is the opposite to ordinary matter. It is composed of antiparticles like normal matter is composed of particles. For example a positron (antiparticle of electron) and an antiproton forms antihydrogen atom. As antiparticles are made just like normal matter, they have the same mass as that of the ordinary matter but with opposite atomic properties known as spin and charge. We all know that the opposed particles annihilate each other on meeting and release tremendous amounts of energy as dictated by Einstein’s famous equation, E=mc2. This principle is under experiment to generate power. NASA is putting large efforts and huge funding in this direction.
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