Roads generally aren’t interesting. They are just tarmac, asphalt or some similar material tough enough to take the constant hammering of cars driving over them for several years. A company based in Idaho named Solar Roadways intend to let roads be more useful than before by creating them as sections of solar panels that are strong enough to take a car driving on them, yet useful enough to power about 500 homes per mile of roadway (4 lanes). The company have been given a $100,000 grant to come up with a successful prototype.
The road system is built of 12′ x 12′ panels costing $7000 each and they are designed to replace the normal covering on roads and car parks. As well as covering the road and providing 7.6KWh for each panel the roads could have LED’s embedded in to create warning signs and mark the roads rather than using paint.
I’m not convinced my self that it could be cheap enough just yet as $7000/12’2 seems like quite a high price.
Lets hope that they do manage to find a way for it to cost a lot less than $7000 for a small coverage area. Via: DVice
That’s a bizarre and fascinating idea, but I think there are too many impracticalities. The need for a rough surface to allow for traction will disperse the light hitting the panels, and what about maintaining the wiring? Roads already require endless maintenance as it is.