Harvesting Wasted Mechanical Energy
Frequent commenter Tim Kingston sent me this very interesting piece (including a very well-made video at the bottom) on harvesting vibrational energy that is currently wasted using piezoelectricity, i.e., the property of some materials that they produce small amounts of electrical power when pressure is applied to them.
I’ve seen many articles on this over the years, but I remain convinced that this is a subject of academic importance only, i.e., that it will never result in anything cost-effective. Can you insert this stuff in the floors of Grand Central Station and collect a fraction of the energy currently lost as heat as all those high-fliers from Connecticut get off their trains and walk briskly to their midtown offices? Of course. Can you do it cost effectively? Nope.
Cause for celebration: as shown in this 
Gary Stark asked me to comment on this intriguing 
In the last four years, I’ve written about just over 3,300 blog posts on various concepts affecting environmental sustainability. But every once in a while, I think it’s worth writing about writing itself – or at least referring readers to one of the greatest wordsmiths of all time. Here’s a short essay on writing by Kurt Vonnegut, one of my heroes, on that very subject: 
Those of you who may have wondered what a howler monkey sounds like when it does its thing will take delight in this 
It’s the 52nd anniversary of the publication of Catch-22, Joseph Heller’s brilliantly satirical anti-war novel. The story revolves around a bomber pilot who tries to get himself dismissed from World War II by virtue of insanity, but encounters a regulation stipulating that only sane people ask to be removed from areas of danger. Thus the phrase “Catch-22” has come to mean any dilemma that resists solution due to the nature of the dilemma itself. 
There are plenty of benefits offered by electric cars, alongside a number of challenges that they still face. Here are some of the main ones.
Writing for a website I helped to create, 
Here’s a general article on 
Here are five mini-reports on companies that have recently received funding for the development of 
