Speed bumps are not really something you would be raving about if you happen to own a vehicle, but the latest “models” in London are all set to change that conventional perception.

The new speed bumps designed by Peter Hughes and will reap free energy every time wheels roll over them. With a cost from £21,000 to £55,000 depending on size – yes, they don’t come in cheap, the metallic knob-like humps manage to earn their value back in just about an year.

Designed to tap the kinetic energy generated by vehicles that roll over constantly, the new technology uses the weight of the car to displace the metal plates underneath and set the wheel rolling to convert mechanical work into energy. Producing between £1 and £3.60 of energy an hour (each) for up to 16 hours a day, the energy will be used to power up street lights and road signs for a mile long.

Some £150,000 of funding has already been approved by the city council, so expect to see them pretty soon while you drive around London. [via EcoWorldly]

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Mitsubishi and Libya’s Al Fateh University will sign a memorandum of understanding to begin joint research and development of reusable energy sources.

The Japanese trading company will put up the money for research into reusable energy by Libya’s largest university. Japan will also supply test materials and send specialists to Al Fateh from 2009 to 2011. The two will also engage in field-tests of solar power generation systems at the university.

Libya is one of the world’s leading oil-producing countries. The country is also working to develop green energy. Libya is a prime location in that it has hours of intense sunlight each day. Mitsubishi and Al Fateh U want to develop technology and expertise. After that, they will cultivate leaders for the new industry.

Wind power is also on the docket because of the strong gusts that buffet the country’s coastal region.

Mitsubishi wants more trade with Africa. Libya is seeking technology from advanced countries. Win-win, eh?

Source (sub req!!)

“Tactical Biorefineries” is what they call these new portable generators roughly the size a small moving van that weighs about 4 tons and turn trash into electricity. They’ve been mainly designed for the U.S. military and could be used outside the military shortly after, when the technology evolves (translated: “when they want to”) in the future.

The biorefineries are designed to use multiple types of garbage at once; first it has to separate organic foods from residual trash (paper, plastics, etc). Food waste is sent to a bioreactor and ferments into ethanol while the residual materials are used in a gasifier and turned into low-grade propane gas and methane. But wait, that’s not all because the propane and methane are also being used in a modified diesel engine that powers the generator which produces electricity.

“At any place with a fair amount of food and scrap waste the biorefinery could help reduce electricity costs, and you might even be able to produce some surplus energy to put back on the electrical grid,” said Michael Ladisch, the professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University who leads the project.

The first unit (it costs $1 million)  has been tested in November and the results have been great. Though it works on diesel fuel for a few hours until the gasifier and the bioreactor begin to produce fuel it produced 90 percent more than it consumed.

I’ll have to agree it’s a great piece of technology and lots of places could use one.

If at first people were joking about the fact that Brad Pitt wants to be the “green mayor” of New Orleans, it has now turned into a big rumor.
Brad Pitt’s “Make It Right” Campaign in New Orleans – picture by ABCNews

It all started when the movie star, which sometimes lives in the city with his wife and kids, started to work on his Make It Right (MIR) campaign. He’s trying to demonstrate that they will build 150 affordable environmentally friendly homes in the area devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Word is that Brad would be interested in becoming a mayor of the city to prove that New Orleans could be very green city.

If he’s serious about it and it’s not just a rumor he wouldn’t be the first actor to become a politician. I don’t know why, but I would really trust this politician to at least try and make the country greener.

Oh and last thing, I would sure love Angelina Jolie to be his secretary, that would make it all awesome.