Piezoelectricity has always been a fascinating concept to me, getting electrical energy directly out of friction. Now, humans have succeeded in growing piezo-active fibres around kevlar, this opens perspectives to turning objects like clothes, flags and sails into power generators.
Will you soon be recharging your cellphone by plugging it into your pants? Will you save on your power bill by putting wall to wall piezocarpet into your appartement?
Read more on wired.com!
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Piezoelectric generation sounds exciting when you hear about it, but when you dig a little deeper, it is as yet, still pie in the sky. Granted, my information is a few years old, but when I did a little research into piezoelectric generation, I found it to be far too expensive to be of any value. Although I can't remember the figures for the amount of power I wanted to generate - I think it was about 1 kW to drive an electric bike (a "book" of sheets flapping in the drive wind) , the price was about £ 1 000 000 (about $ 2 000 000). I quit at that. And yes, the material has to be moved to generate electricity, so walls would not be feasable, other than in a tent pitched in a windy spot.
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