Kinetic road plates

CHARGE! 

It’s every woman’s dream come true: saving the planet while you shop. 

And the best part is you won’t even need to open your wallet. In fact, you won’t even need to go into the store: renewable energy is now as close as the parking lot. 

Okay…so it’s not Tiffany’s, but Sainsbury’s, a British supermarket chain, is the first in Europe to install “kinetic road plates,” a clever invention which will power the store’s cash registers just by having vehicles drive over them.  

The plates look a lot like speed bumps (more like ‘green bumps’). The kinetic plates give under the weight of the vehicles, causing it to rock slightly and send a message to a generator to power up. 

Though all that rocking may make it seem like you are on a Disney ride instead of at the Supermarket, the inventors claim that the driver won’t even feel the difference. The generators then create energy which is captured, redirected back to the store and used to power the checkouts and the store’s other needs.

The kinetic road plates are just one of the planet-saving measures which the chain is employing: the store’s solar panels will heat up 100% of the hot water during summer months; rainwater will be used to flush all of their toilets and the lights will be on automatic dimmer switches so on bright, sunny days, less electricity will be used.

Sustainable shopping: making the planet, its women…and their husbands…happy.