INTRO:
Los Angeles is the car capital of the world. But now the city's distinct car culture is being used to test a unique renewable energy source. Piezoelectricity (PRON: Pee-AY-zoh) converts the vibrations from traveling cars into electricity. Millions of dollars has been invested to test the technology and, if successful, it could go global. Frances Read reports.
IN: "Every day…
OUT: LOS ANGELES.
DUR: 1,53"
http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0811Piezo-fr-gen.mp3
Los Angeles is the car capital of the world. But now the city's distinct car culture is being used to test a unique renewable energy source. Piezoelectricity (PRON: Pee-AY-zoh) converts the vibrations from traveling cars into electricity. Millions of dollars has been invested to test the technology and, if successful, it could go global. Frances Read reports.
IN: "Every day…
OUT: LOS ANGELES.
DUR: 1,53"
http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0811Piezo-fr-gen.mp3
PKG:
VO: Every day on Los Angeles' freeways, there are millions of cars, traveling trillions of miles. But according to some - they're an untapped source of power. California is the home of renewable energy - but here they're pushing for a brand new kind. Road power - otherwise known as piezoelectricity. Tiny battery cells would be embedded into the roadway converting vibrations from cars into power. Mike Gatto is a State Commissioner in California.
CLIP: "We're a very big car culture here, Californian's love to drive, our state is huge and it's criss-crossed with millions of miles of roads so makes sense to try to use Some of that excess energy. You can imagine how much they vibrate the ground beneath them and these little tiny devices actually capture those vibrations and turns them into electric power."
VO: Some say, a small stretch of highway here in California could be enough to power an entire city for a year. But using piezoelectricity has never been tried on that kind of scale before. And so now two million dollars is being invested to try to get it off the ground. But it's not without drawbacks. Rehan Kapadia is a professor of engineering at the University of Southern California. He says there's a reason it's always been kept small scale. Quite simply, you can't get enough power from it. At least not yet.
CLIP: "You need to be able to generate enough current. That's not the strength of piezoelectricity generators. I don't think it will be the next solar or wind power I think that there's just been a lot more development in both of those areas so far."
VO: With its endless freeways and traffic jams that last for hours, if it's going to work anywhere it'll be here in LA. But even if successful - it could be several years before our cars power our homes. Frances Read, Los Angeles.
VO: Every day on Los Angeles' freeways, there are millions of cars, traveling trillions of miles. But according to some - they're an untapped source of power. California is the home of renewable energy - but here they're pushing for a brand new kind. Road power - otherwise known as piezoelectricity. Tiny battery cells would be embedded into the roadway converting vibrations from cars into power. Mike Gatto is a State Commissioner in California.
CLIP: "We're a very big car culture here, Californian's love to drive, our state is huge and it's criss-crossed with millions of miles of roads so makes sense to try to use Some of that excess energy. You can imagine how much they vibrate the ground beneath them and these little tiny devices actually capture those vibrations and turns them into electric power."
VO: Some say, a small stretch of highway here in California could be enough to power an entire city for a year. But using piezoelectricity has never been tried on that kind of scale before. And so now two million dollars is being invested to try to get it off the ground. But it's not without drawbacks. Rehan Kapadia is a professor of engineering at the University of Southern California. He says there's a reason it's always been kept small scale. Quite simply, you can't get enough power from it. At least not yet.
CLIP: "You need to be able to generate enough current. That's not the strength of piezoelectricity generators. I don't think it will be the next solar or wind power I think that there's just been a lot more development in both of those areas so far."
VO: With its endless freeways and traffic jams that last for hours, if it's going to work anywhere it'll be here in LA. But even if successful - it could be several years before our cars power our homes. Frances Read, Los Angeles.