by Jace Shoemaker-Galloway for EnergyBoom

While speed bumps are often used in businesses and on neighborhood streets, a different kind of speed bump is headed for a popular New Jersey restaurant. New Energy Technologies, Inc . (OTC: NENE ) has developed a high-tech speed bump that generates electricity from slow moving vehicles!

The MotionPower device will be tested in the drive-thru lane of Burger King located in Hillside. The patent-pending prototype generates electricity by capturing wasted kinetic energy as slowing cars and small trucks drive over the speed bumps.  The first-generation MotionPower is designed for quick installation and customization and can be easily placed on existing roads. Built to resist damage from vehicles, weather and debris, the modular design allows the device to be easily shortened or lengthened to fit the customer’s needs.

In June, the company announced a new “fluid-driven” MotionPower device which is being developed for buses, heavy trucks and other large vehicles. If successful, the MotionPower systems could expand to high traffic locations where reduced speed is needed, such as off-ramps, toll booths, intersections and school zones.

Another similar system, Kinetic Road Plates from Highway Energy Systems LTD, was recently installed in the parking lot of the Sainsbury supermarket in the United Kingdom. As a car is driven over the plates, the downward push and motion of the vehicle turns the generators. The generators redirect the captured energy and in this case, the energy is used to power the store’s cash registers. Peter Hughes, an electrical and mechanical engineer, launched the company in 2002. While some may be skeptical of “free” energy technology, the patent-pending system will not impact drivers travelling over the road plates and will not affect fuel efficiency, according to Hughes.

With more than 6 billion miles driven on American roads each day, the environmental impact and cost benefits in utilizing this type of technology, if successful, could one day be a viable option.