Date published: 2007/07/02
The BBC says:
Delivery lorries are to be used to generate power for a supermarket chain. Pressure from vehicles passing over metal plates outside a Sainsbury's depot in Northampton will trigger pumps in an electricity generator.
The supermarket said it hoped to be the first company in Europe to use the system, trialled in the US, in September.
The company said the system should provide enough power for 10,000 light bulbs per year during the trial.
A Sainsbury's spokesman said 2% of the depot's energy needs would be met by the system, based on the number of lorries expected to drive over the road plates.
Roger Burnley, supply chain director for Sainsbury's, said: "This is one of several sustainable measures being implemented at our Northampton depot, which leads the way in reducing energy emissions and waste."
Is this an April Fool's joke? The energy is not free, it is coming from the lorries. This sounds akin to the idea that banks should be able to shave fractions of pennies off bank accounts, because nobody would notice the difference except the banks themselves, which would make a tidy profit. Of course if for some reason here the road plates really need to be driven over by the lorries in any case, and if what Sainsbury's has implemented does not cause further damage to or loss of energy from the lorries, then so be it.
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