What's Next: Kinetic Energy Harnessing Speed Bumps at the Burger King Drive Thru

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

No, I’m not making this up. A Burger King in New Jersey plans to install kinetic energy harnessing speed bumps in their drive thru to help power appliances in the restaurant. The whole thing is pretty silly, and Tree Hugger had a field day with it:

Where do I start? With the carbon footprint of drive-in restaurants, to the idling while waiting for the burger, to the carbon footprint of raising meat and making hamburgers? The installation of this at a burger joint is laughable. The energy it will generate is negligible, and It probably will take twenty years to recover the energy in it’s manufacture.

But hey, if it makes you feel better about your burger, go for it. Drive toward that car ahead of you in the line but don’t put on your brakes; just aim for those little plates in the road and hope that they slow you down in time. Trust the technology.

Via Jalopnik