Solar Panel Roads

Roads made from solar panels, & they actually work!

This fantastic idea from Scott Brusaw and Julie Brusaw of Solar Roadways, founded some time ago now, founded in 2006 and featured on the Future Earth Google+ profile gaining a lot of comments and traction, we thought it worth featuring again.

This great innovation from Solar Roadways (referred to as SR Panels) steps away from the tradition road surface and power creation mindset, with the core purpose to generate clean renewable energy on roadways and any other surface that can be walked or driven upon.

This would include: roads, parking lots, pathways, driveways, plazas, bike paths, playgrounds, pool surrounds, courtyards and similar. The applications of this tech can indeed reach much further.

Check out the entertaining video following “Solar Freaking Roadways” which goes on to explain the tech, the applications and the benefits this product can offer the world.

Solar Roadways considers modern infrastructure updates and a smart power grid as an significant part of the evolution in the delivery of this product. SR panels can become the nation’s smart grid, providing energy to homes and businesses along the way as well as providing an improved safety factor for drivers and pedestrians.

The last few decades have brought dramatic technological changes to cars, phones, computers, cameras, and many other technologies, but roads remain virtually unchanged – perhaps it is about time to rethink this widely spread and integral part of the worlds infrastructure.

The ultimate goal in respects to getting this implemented is to show that the return on investment is worth the initial outlay for governments or private organisations and individuals versus patching the existing technology again and again. In this way, two goals can be accomplished simultaneously: the creation of a modular, modern infrastructure while creating the renewable energy needed to effectively end the current dependence on fossil fuels.

It is suggested that if all the roads in the USA were converted into this type of technology, the USA would have three times the amount of energy available then it does today!

One challenge that this sort of technology seems to be met with is the ability to store the energy once it is produced, considerations for the surface getting dirty may also have to be rethought as the current ‘smart glass’used for its self cleaning properties, is also slippery. It is pretty important to keep these modular elements clean so that they may  in efficiently produce power.

Truly a paradigm shift in energy production and modern infrastructure we take for granted every day.

Read more on Solar Roadways via their website  – http://www.solarroadways.com

….“Solar Freaking Roadways”

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