Solar Roadways Could Power The Entire World
12 September 2009 | Solar Power | No Comments
We all know how hot and how much heat the roads dissipate during summer times. We all have seen the hot road mirage on the highways, where the road seems soaked in a pool of water. Well, what if this heat and energy can, in some way be extracted and stored as electrical energy ? This was the idea that captivated Scott Brusaw’s imagination since childhood. Now, as a grown man, after he acknowledged the dangers of global warming, he came up with the concept that enables him to use this, once lost, energy. After years of development, together with his wife, they introduced Solar Roadways, a company designed for a fully digitized roads, that could ,theoretically, someday power the entire world.
The idea is to transform the current bitumen roads into giant solar panels, generating electrical energy. The solar road panels themselves, consist of three layers:
- Road Surface Layer – the upper most layer is made of glass, so that the sun rays can pass through it to reach the solar cell collectors below, but has the required strength to withhold the heavies loads available on the road today. Weather shouldn’t also be a problem to it.
- Electronics Layer – is the most important layer, the place where the solar cells are introduced. LED’s will also be placed to light the road from below. Ultra-capacitors will then store the extra energy collected. Each solar road panel incorporates a microprocessor, that deals with all the road functions, such as energy transportation, storage system etc. This intelligent system could also be programmed to heat themselves when snow or ice threatens the solar panels from collecting energy.
- Base Plate Layer – this layer is designed to transport the accumulated energy from the solar panels and deliver it to all who need it. Other wires, such as the phone line or the high-speed Internet connection cable could be seated here.
The idea has great potential and its seems they can start building their first prototype. The Department of Transport has recently financed the project with $100,000 to build a 12′ by 12′ solar panel.
His calculations show that three times as much electrical energy as the amount consumed 2003 in the U.S could be delivered by his invention, if the whole road system used the Solar Roadways concept. He estimates that with a solar panel efficiency of more then the current 15% (which future technologies should deliver) the U.S Solar Roadways alone, could provide the whole planet with electricity.
Surprisingly enough, the costs aren’t so high as expected. As a matter of fact, the Solar Roadway system would cost almost the same as the current petroleum-based system (the asphalt roads and the electricity plants that use fossil fuel for burning).
Tags: asphalt, Department of Transport, development, efficiency, electrical energy, electricity, energy, Global Warming, Solar cells, solar panels, solar road panels, solar roadways, sun rays, ultra-capacitors