British engineers have developed a sidewalk that converts footsteps into electricity. The invention, set to debut at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, is causing quite the stir in the tech world. Engineers have formulated a way to transfer the kinetic energy from the impact of footsteps into small bursts of electricity to power nearby appliances such as street lamps and traffic lights. According to Laurence Kemball-Cook, the 25-year-old engineering graduate who developed the prototype during his final year of university in 2009, said that these slabs can store electricity for three days in its internal battery. Despite that each step only powers a regular street lamp for 30 seconds, this will certainly add up with crowds estimated to be in the millions during the summer games.
It seems like America is falling farther and farther behind in the manufacturing industry. With countries like Great Britain, China, Japan and Germany consistently leading the rest of the world in production of great new technologies, it's no wonder why America keeps falling deeper into debt. Not only are we not producing jobs to stimulate the economy, we simply aren't creating anything revolutionarily useful for the world (besides iPhones). If America were to return to the manufacturing powerhouse we used to be back in the days of the Industrial Revolution, we wouldn't have to worry about a collapsing economy and decreasing consumer confidence. Besides having other nations start taking us seriously again, we would bring jobs back to the American people and we wouldn't have to rely on other countries making our goods.
For the full story, click here
No comments:
Post a Comment