Is it possible

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Lately, I've been a little obsessed with the idea of energy capture. I keep seeing the world as a huge mass of energy transference, except that we are not using the transference the way we should be. Instead of having our own energy stored and reused, we are doing stupid things like using fossil fuels.

I had the idea to implant energy capturing tools on sidewalks thinking it would get a lot of energy, but apparently I'm not the first to think of that and it is said it wouldn't be all that much of a helpful amount (I'm not sure I believe that, from just what goes on under my window alone).

Anyway, I saw somebody had invented a kids' ball that collected energy from being kicked, great idea but still not catching a ton of energy.

But would it be possible to invent an energy capture tool that we could carry with us and whenever we saw some form of massive energy source, just sort of clip it on and capture it? If you think about everything that is moving in the world, how are we letting all that go to waste - oh and don't get me started on the sun!

They already did, its static generating cloths that capture the energy of your movement and uses it to power and charge things like flashlights and cell phones etc. it even has built in solar panels that can be washed.

hybrid bicycles could be useful in hilly places, where the rider could engage the energy storage device while descending hills or on straightaways [but dialed down] and eventually use that to assist on hill climbing. roller skates could have some energy capture/storage for maybe charging things like cell phones and the like. cars could have solar cells on all topside surfaces, printed in prismatic material so as to not be as critical about sun angle, this could activate ventilation so that if a car is parked in a hot sunny parking lot, it won't be 150 degrees inside when the driver gets off work [or exits the supermarket] and gets in the car to go home. highways could have buried kinetic or piezoelectric sensors and the energy captured might be able to power lights and animated signs and such, maybe more.

It's all limited by technology.

Until we make room-temperature superconductors that are easy and affordable to mass-produce and true frictionless materials and effective energy storage devices, we can't do a lot of what people imagine because we will always pour more energy INTO something than it will ever produce.

Think of the Toyota Prius. It can do most of what it can do because it is designed from the ground up to conserve and recapture energy in every way they can think of that is practical. Now Toyota is putting the hybrid tech into other platforms, but with a much lower Return Of Investment (ROI). A big part of this is because you can't just slap the Synergy drive and a battery pack into a different platform and expect the same results as if you redesign the whole platform to maximize energy efficiency.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/26/57518 ... -1-million

as I attempted to bring to the attn of the WP community and no one gave a flying f**k

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt259291.html

and also look up Pavegen

that is a BIG IF.

There is plenty of energy out there to capture, it's just a matter of whether or not it's cost effective to do so. For better or worse, economics drives the vast majority of these sorts of things.

Also, all of the lost kinetic energy that you mention is really small change in the grand scheme of things. Just think about using an exercise bike...if you crank up the resistance pretty high and pedal with all your might, you'll just barely be able to keep a moderately bright light-bulb lit while you work out.

Maybe they should start collecting oil off of the faces of teenage kids, and use it to fuel diesal vehicles.