Researchers Roll Out Energy Generating Roads

via inhabitat

Engineers at Innowattech in Israel recently created a new type of road that generates electricity as vehicles pass over it! The supercharged surface is embedded with piezoelectric crystals, which transform kinetic energy from passing vehicles into an electrical current.

Physics tells us that energy is conserved. So my question is where does the energy come from? OK, I know the answer, the energy comes from the cars traveling on the road.

Before committing to such a project, one must ask if the additional energy used by cars traveling on such road are energy that would have been lost anyway, or it is an additional load. If it is the latter, I would say it is not a project worth continuing. Thermodynamic laws dictate that there will be energy lost in transformation!