If you have been scouting around for cheap car insurance for young drivers in the attempt to save a few quid, then you are not alone. A major food retailer has started harnessing the energy from shopper's cars to save on their expensive energy bills and cut back on carbon emissions.
The scheme involves a set of kinetic plates which will be placed in the road into the store. The kinetic energy is produced when the weight of a vehicle passes over the plates in the road which then initiates a series of hydraulic pipes that drive a generator.
Each generator is capable of producing up to 30kw of kinetic energy an hour which is more than enough needed to power the store's checkouts.
Alison Austin environment manager for Sainsburys said, "Not only are we the first to use such technology with our shoppers, but customers can now help to make their local shop greener."
To carry on the green theme, Sainsburys also have a number of other eco friendly ideas up their sleeves - collecting rain water for flushing toilets, bigger windows to replace lights, and cold air from the freezers to cool the checkout area.
The kinetic energy idea has proved so successful that other places are thinking of copying the idea. You may come across the road plates at a theme park as the idea has been considered to power roller coasters and other rides. However, I can't help wondering though what would happen if the ride was halfway up a loop when cars stopped coming through the car park. Surely if there's nothing to power the generator then there's nothing to power the ride? Perhaps this would become part of the thrill and adrenaline rush.
As we are all encouraged to think and act green, I feel the need to follow in Sainsburys' carbon friendly footsteps. Therefore I have come up with some eco friendly ways of saving energy myself.
Although perhaps not quite as viable or as efficient as Sainsbury's ideas, I think they're worth a bash to save a few quid. It's certainly more fun to do then searching around for cheaper car insurance for young drivers.