Though McDonald's and Burger King (particularly the former, we'd guess) are sort of terrible for your health, both entities do good nevertheless.

The latest examples of their forays into the realm of social responsibility relate to energy; the former is installing electric vehicle charging stations at its outlets, starting in Cary, North Carolina with a new "green" restaurant opening July 14, while the latter is implementing a rather brilliant concept -- a speed bump which harnesses kinetic energy, then used to power the BK outlet in question.

NovaCharge is the company McD's Corp is partnerning with, a "leader in the deployment of EV charging infrastructure"; they'll be utilizing the ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations for the project. No word on when other outlets will adopt them as of yet, though.

Burger King, meanwhile, will be taking on MotionPower technology -- developed by New Energy Technologies (NET) -- in its Hillside, New Jersey outlet. Basically, while the customer drives through to pick up their order, a metal-plated speed bump will take in the energy emitted, then used to power the restaurant itself. As hundreds of cars drive through each day, that's a lot of juice to be had.

CNET's Sharon Vaknin would prefer if the franchise would recycle used vegetable oil, install solar panels on its roofs and windows, and/or transport goods on low-impact trucks, but they, it's quite a step, and could push the tech to become standard in the future -- NET is already planning to install it at toll booths, streets, border crossings and other high traffic areas. In any case, it's certainly more convenient than the alternative: