Harvesting electricity from road traffic noise energy – a literature review

Recent developments in digital technologies, including big data and internet of things concepts, have shown promising results in achieving more appropriate and effective pavement engineering through a proactive asset management approach. This could be achieved through an early diagnosis of defects and selection of an appropriate maintenance strategy informed by more granular data by the utilisation of advanced sensing systems. Such a sensing system for pavement, which should include a combination of embedded sensors and surface data sensors (e.g. cameras) would require electricity, which could be problematic when considering the growing demand for electricity around the globe. Harvesting electricity from the pavement, for example from traffic noise, which is the focus of this article, could bring new hope for achieving self-efficient and sustainable sensing systems for roads. If effective, an electricity generation system from road traffic noise could be counted towards the net zero carbon dioxide target set by road authorities. A review of the literature revealed that the noise of air pumping between the tyre and the pavement surface is the critical noise source with the highest potential for electricity generation. Harvesting, storage and conversion of noise energy to electrical energy are still in the preliminary stages.