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UK Supermaket Uses Cars to Generate Its Own Energy

Cars don't necessarily have to be just a source of pollution as they can also be used to generate energy for other purposes, such as powering checkouts in a supermarket. As unrealistic as it may sound, the Brits have managed to use cars coming to a Sainsbury's store in Gloucester to generate energy.

As a press release from the company relates, “Sainsbury's is installing a revolutionary invention which creates green energy every time a customer simply drives into the car park to do their shopping.”

The idea behind the system is based on a similar concept to that of F1's KERS. Vehicles passing over the ‘Kinetic Road Plates' in the car park generate a rocking motion under the road surface, which with the help of a hydraulic system generates energy used to power checkouts or other purposes. It's worth noting that the plates are rounded, which means that it doesn't matter from which direction the car travels over the ramp.

"This is revolutionary, not only are we the first to use such cutting-edge technology with our shoppers, but customers can now play a very active role in helping to make their local shop greener, without extra effort or cost. We want to continue offering great value but we also want to make the weekly shop sustainable. Using amazing technology like this helps us reduce our use of carbon and makes Sainsbury's a leading energy-efficient business,"
Alison Austin, Sainsbury's environment manager, said.

Opening today, the store has other tricks up its sleeve to reduce its carbon footprint, including solar thermal panels for the hot water, automatic light dimmers and retrieval of cold air from the fridges to cool the checkout area.
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