h a l f b a k e r y"Bun is such a sad word, is it not?" -- Watt, "Waiting for Godot"
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First off: This is my first idea... I just joined this site.
Okay, this idea has two phases.
First: There would be a very heavy weight (dirt, rocks, water, loads of cheese) of several tons. That weight would be jacked up (hydraulically?) using the weight of passing cars on a road to press down
a speed bump when driven over. The speed bump presses down 6" or so when driven over, causing the weight to lift a small amount. Once the weight lifts up to a good height of 5-10'...
Second: The weight is allowed to lower by gravity, while turning a power generator. Now I don't know the best way to convert this weight based energy to a turning generator, but I imagine the force of several tons could turn the generator many thousands of times, if a good gear system was worked out.
Once it hits the bottom, passing cars would again begin to lift the weight to repeat the process.
In a simple system, this electricity generated could flow into batteries to be used later to power your lights, and other needs.
A more complex system could use the weight system as a storage system of energy. A system that could control when and how much the weight lowered depending on the power need at that time. For example, at night when there isn't much electricity need, the weight wouldn't need to be lowered very fast at all to power the system. During peak hours, it would be lowered much faster.
Is this feasible?
Electricity generating speed bumps.
Electricity_20Generating_20Speed_20Bump
The same tyrannical principle! [bungston, Mar 15 2007]
[link]
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Or one could levy a tax at the gas station and buy coal with it, then burn it for energy. |
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Welcome, [claw]. I am sad to link up the electricity generating speedbumps - essentially the same idea as yours, as far as I can tell. I can see how you might have missed it in your search, as you do not explicitly use speedbumps. Good luck with the next one. |
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Actually, this is not such a daft idea.
You will note, upon careful reading of
the idea, that the load to be lifted
consists of "dirt, rocks, water, loads of
cheese". Clearly, the cheese is the
essential component. |
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Passing mice will be drawn by the scent
of the cheese, but most of them will be
drawn only once the cheese has been
raised high enough for the smell to
travel over a wide area (ie, they will be
drawn by the ascent of the cheese).
Therefore, local rodents will swarm up
the hydraulic jack and gorge themselves
on the cheese. They will then have a
drink of the water and burrow into the
dirt. |
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When the weight finally falls, therefore,
you will be recovering not just the
energy used to lift the weight (which,
admittedly, is energy purlieved from the
cars), but *also* the energy expended
by the mice in climbing up to the raised
weight. As the weight hits the ground,
of course, the rocks will be disturbed
and will bang about quite a bit, scaring
the rodents and causing them to flee,
until the whole cycle repeats. |
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Therefore, this is actually a cunning
scheme for harvesting muscular energy
from wild rodents. I am not sure if
bears like cheese but, if they do, this
system would be even more effective in
bear-dense regions. |
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[max] I was bored by your anno until I got to the bears; that bit was inspired. |
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[+], purely for MaxwellBuchanan's anno. |
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Welcome. This is possible, but it is also stealing. You will gank energy from every passing car's gas tank. |
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Make it ethical by ganking the energy only of those breaking the speed limit. It would be like a little traffic ticket that lifts your cheese. |
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I don't get it. How does this generate gravity?
All it has managed to generate is levity. |
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Every time a car passes it lifts the weight a little bit, generating a small amount of artificial gravity on top of the weight, just like if you started to go up in an elevator. |
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If it was placed somewhere where cars need to slow down or on a downhill, then it would be stealing electricity. The cars would be the weight. |
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Why do we have to go about making everything ethcial? |
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Can't we just flatout steal every now and then? |
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Robin power from under the hood? |
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Hey, that was REALLY good, TDB. Seriously. |
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LATER EDIT:
There used to be a post just above TDB's anno that suggested taking energy from bad drivers and giving it to good drivers. That made it much funnier. |
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Welcome! Since the weight is lifted by hydraulics, the easiest way to use the energy might be to use a hydraulic motor. That way, energy could be extracted at any time without interrupting the system. |
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This would also make the batteries redundant. |
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Energy storage by lifting weights could be a good alternative to batteries; although the energy density would be much smaller, the efficiency could be higher and the cost lower, and construction would not require the rare and/or toxic elements used in batteries. Some of my raw-foodist vegan friends would regard the cheese as toxic, but that's another story altogether. |
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Unless the cars were going downhill, or in a phase of decelleration, there would be no "free" energy gained. However, if the cars were slowing down or travelling down hill, the energy gained would be similar to that of Hybrid cars - recovering the energy that would ususlly be dissipated in the brakes. |
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The shocks on the cars would steal almost
all of the energy. Unless you cause a
major bump like a pothole (that people will
object to and try to avoid) there is very
little energy for you to steal. |
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