THE SIBC Wednesday evening news bulletin gave startling details of the amount of road traffic on Honiara’s main roads on a daily basis.

It was claimed in the news report there are almost 15,000 vehicles registered in Guadalcanal, with 23,000 “vehicle movements” over the Mataniko bridge everyday, which is more than Victoria Bridge in Penrith, Australia, which sees 21,000 movements.

With so many vehicles registered in Guadalcanal it is not surprising there is constant congestion but could the traffic flow be used for practical purposes to generate electricity?

To generate electricity from moving vehicles, the USA, Japan and Israel are using piezoelectric crystals which convert mechanical energy into electrical energy and vice versa.

Piezoelectricity (literally “pressing electricity”) was first discovered and used in the 19th century, one of the most common applications being electric cigarette lighters, which use piezoelectric crystals to create a flame.

Piezoelectric walkways have been implemented in some parts of Europe and in the East Japan Railway Company’s Tokyo station, and the first piezoelectric freeway opened in 2009 in Israel.

The coastal road Route 4 in Israel consists of a ten-meter strip of asphalt which covers the piezoelectric generators beneath while batteries are located nearby to store the 2,000 watt-hours of electricity which this setup generates.

Perhaps, the Government of Japan could offer the SIG some technical assistance to investigate the potential of generating electricity in the way outlined, initially, maybe, utilizing the Mataniko bridge for trial purposes.

Yours sincerely

Frank Short