Using piezoelectiricty to produce electricity

Question

What if piezoelectric materials could be placed under a runway to then produce electricity to power (street) lights - I don't know what voltage certain piezoelectric compounds can produce, but would this be possible?

Answer 1

This is not something new and it has its applications already. There are several piezoelectric engineered floors that generate electricity from the piezoelectric effect. The more interesting thing is that crowded places could generate enough electricity. Like you've mentioned, integrating piezoelectric materials in the runways have already been proposed decades ago and still haven't seen any application.

But a rough estimation shows that we could generate about 20-25 megawatts in a day. But this is practically impossible as it would take a gigantic effort to manufacture the piezoelectric materials and besides, installation in the existing runways will be nothing less than a chaotic situation for the airlines.