Using subways as an energy source
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - Subway trains in Philadelphia may soon help generate electricity using new braking systems and a smart-grid technology.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is piloting the system that converts kinetic energy into electricity as the train slows down. A battery installed at a substation will store electricity to help power the subways.
Experts said the system could generate extra power that could be sold back to the regional power grid, according to MIT Technology Review.
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Ottawa sets out to protect its hydro heritage
OTTAWA - The city of Ottawa is looking to designate five hydro substations built nearly a century ago as heritage structures, a move intended to protect the architectural history of Ottawa's earliest forays into the electricity business.
All five buildings are still used by Hydro Ottawa to reduce the voltage coming from transmission lines before the electricity is transmitted to homes and businesses.
Electricity came to Ottawa in 1882 when two carbon lamps were installed on LeBreton Flats, heritage planner Anne Fitzpatrick told the city's built heritage subcommittee on Tuesday. It became a lucrative business, and soon a privately owned monopoly.
In 1905,…
