Uh.. no please look into the piezoelectric effect before you spout off things like that. For MPGs to be decreased you would need increased friction, and since there is no increased friction when using asphalt imbued with piezoelectric crystals there is no increased rolling resistance, as electricity can be generated from as little as .1% deflection from the original state. Second there is no such thing as deceleration, its a colloquialism, its called negative acceleration. Acceleration is only a change in velocity not necessarily an increase. And this tech is green because it is harnessing otherwise lost energy as mentioned by the OP and like half of the people leaving comments. I am all for the green revolution but some people seem to be like if its not 150% green its not good enough, and i’m sorry but that kind of attitude is how Corporate America has marginalized you, silenced yo,u and made you the laughing stock of the country. “Tree hugging hippies” being a pejorative is all the proof one needs.

Hope to see more tech like this in the future and love the Blog keep up the good work :)

So long as there are plenty of places where few people travel to smaller places to work, and there still aren’t established public transportation systems (due to the overhead required vs. the number of people using it), there will still be a need for individual transportation.

It will take a complete overhaul of the way a majority of of cities and suburbs work before individual transportation can be done away with.

read the whole article here:
http://thinksketch.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/piezoelectrics-cool-useful-but-not-an-energy-solution/

In this case, the energy is otherwise being wasted. It doesnt require extra energy (petrol, food, whatever) to work

I think everything that incurs some kind of pressure in everyday use should have piezoelectrics embedded in them, especially places where people walk.

This isn’t supposed to be a base-load power plant. They are just harvesting energy that is otherwise lost in compressing the asphalt. They are not suggesting that people drive around with the sole intent of generating electricity. People will continue to drive around for the same mundane reasons: because they need to get places, or to deliver goods, or just for fun. That part is not green. But people will continue to drive so long as there is a desire for personal mobility. The “green” part is that while people continue to live their lives, driving as they always do, this system will invisibly act in the background collecting energy that right now just goes to heating the pavement.

You are correct…this system is very inefficient at converting chemical energy from automotive fuels into electricity. BUT it increases the efficiency of the car/roadway system since you get travel which is useful, and electricity which is also useful.