"This gave it an energy efficiency of 24 percent, three times greater than piezoelectric, the previously best source of mechanical electricity harvesting—and as efficient as magnetic-induction turbines."
It is an interesting device that may serve a purpose but I cannot see it producing kilowatts of power in any normal application.
It is obvious to me that these articles are written to fulfill government grant requirements. They received a grant to research renewable energy devices and that is how the device is presented.
the "sustainable dance floor" a project between Club Watt (nightclub in Rotterdam) and the university of Delft in 2008 showed that each person on the dancefloor is capable of generating 20W/h.
So for every 1000 people "in da club" that's a pretty nice 20Kwh!
Enric if you really think that producing energy from people walking or dancing can supply useful energy to the grid you are delusional. They will just get tired that much sooner. The same goes for generators in roads, all you will do is decrease the vehicles gas mileage by more than any energy produced.
Conventional generators are more efficient at producing power from wave or tide action.
I would like to see cheap renewable energy as much as anyone but I get really angry when people try to tell me that a device can do something that that is not practical.
There is two steps, charge difference creation which gives a constant current generator and after sliding charge separation mechanical work made against electrostatic forces between opposite charges, which can be large giving very high voltage like Van de Graaff generator if the current is large. The reported efficiency seems a real breaktrough able to make an industrial revolution. http://iopscience...5402.pdf based on pyramid-patterned PDMS thin film. It is not cear how fast is the friction wearing out, which must be very slow ??? Otherwise, too fast worn out, it will not be useful, It must resist many billion of fast tribo friction charge separations with no degradation ????.
I see this device as useful in small niche applications but it can hardly revolutionize power generation. I cannot see someone using this sort of generator to charge a personal device other than in emergencies. Also, most static generators are very sensitive to moisture so the device will have very tough packaging requirements.
Wonderful indeed! Just a bit more and we will catch up with the past! Those geometric figures on the Nazca plain, walkers recharging the energy pits!! The ley lines in Britian, again sources of electrical energy lost to us the egotistical futurists. Of course, this was applicable during one of the long delay magnetic reversals of the sun. Just imagine, the magnetic field Earth was imbued inside held up the water veil, and allowed the smarter us to exist on mountain tops exposed to cosmic radiation. While down below the rest of us existed in the moment like dogs (who don't have it so bad after all). Now that we are the same, all of us capable of future planning but not it seems understanding the past, we compete daily for the benefit of none. And eye Venus greedily as each magnetic delay of the solar reversal cycle allows more energy to be expended and the 50 mile cloud deck of Venus fall onto the surface. Soon the water veil of Venus will exist and life .....
ogvorker
Mar 4, 2014Are these people who think they can change the energy paradigm delusional or just ill-informed? So hard to tell...