The Barcelona subway grinds to a halt, the doors slide open and commuters pour out to go about their daily business.
Little do they know that as they do so, a burst of energy is sent up to street level to help charge an electric car.
Barcelona has put together a package of clean energy technologies to help public transportation go greener, while also doing its part to combat climate change and aid Europe’s difficult shift to the privately owned electric vehicle market.
Sixteen stations of Barcelona’s subway system are part of its new MetroCharge project, whereby the energy from the underground trains’ brakes is used to power the trains and the stations themselves, while the remainder is sent snaking through cables to the surface to power plug-in stations for privately owned vehicles.
Bernardo Espinoza, a 49-year-old engineer, commutes daily by subway. He also owns a hybrid car and had just found out that he had a new place to plug in.
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