Solar roadway
Encyclopedia
A solar roadway is a road surface that generates electricity by solar photovoltaics
Photovoltaics
Photovoltaics is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic power generation employs solar panels composed of a number of solar cells containing a photovoltaic material...

. One current proposal is for 12 ft x 12 ft (4 m x 4 m) panels including solar panels and LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....

 signage
Signage
Signage is any kind of visual graphics created to display information to a particular audience. This is typically manifested in the form of wayfinding information in places such as streets or inside/outside of buildings.-History:...

, that can be driven on. The concept involves replacing highways, roads, parking lots, driveways, and sidewalks with such a system.

DOT
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...

 Award

Solar Roadways has been awarded a $100,000 research contract by the United States Department of Transportation
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...

. This Small Business Innovation Research
Small Business Innovation Research
The Small Business Innovation Research program is a United States Government program, coordinated by the Small Business Administration, in which 2.5% of the total extramural research budgets of all federal agencies with extramural research budgets in excess of $100 million are reserved for...

 (SBIR) contract will enable them to prototype Solar Road Panels.
The concept has been used for lighting as well.

Going Green

The initial panel impressed the Department of Transportation enough so that Solar Roadways has now been given $750,000 to take it to the next step: a solar parking lot. Constructed out of multiple 12' x 12' panels, this smart parking lot will also warm itself in cold weather to melt away snow and ice. A layer of embedded LEDs will be used to create traffic warnings or crosswalks, and excess electricity could be used to charge electric vehicles or routed into the power grid. The electrical components will be embedded between layers of extremely durable, textured glass.

Parking lots, driveways, and eventually highways are all targets for the panels. If the entire United States Interstate Highway system were surfaced with Solar Roadways panels, it would produce more than three times the amount of electricity currently used nationwide.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The main advantage of the Solar Roadway concept is that it utilizes a renewable source of energy to produce electricity. It has the potential to reduce our dependence on conventional sources of energy such as coal, petroleum and other fossil fuels. Also, the life span of the solar panels is around 30-40 years, much greater than normal asphalt roads, which only last 7-10 years.

Another advantage of the Solar Roadway is that it does not require the development of unused and potentially environmentally sensitive lands. This is currently a very controversial issue with large photovoltaic installations in the Southwestern US and other places. But since the roads are already there, this is not an issue. Also, unlike large photovoltaic installations, new transmission corridors across environmentally sensitive land would not be required to bring power to consumers in urban areas. Transmission lines could simply be run along already established roadways.

In spite of these advantages, the start up and maintenance costs of building such roadways and parking lots would initially be extremely high. Another issue to deal with is the efficiency of solar panels, which is, on an average only 40%.

Fossil Fuels

As previously mentioned the main advantage of the Solar Roadway concept is that it has the potential to reduce our dependence on conventional sources of energy. Moreover, the idea is to replace all current petroleum-based asphalt roads, parking lots, and driveways with Solar Road Panels that collect energy to be used by our homes and businesses. Our ultimate goal is to be able to store excess energy in or alongside the Solar Roadways. This renewable energy replaces the need for the current fossil fuels used for the generation of electricity. This, in turn, cuts greenhouse gases literally in half.

There would be less need for fossil fuels and less dependency upon foreign oil. Much less pollution. How about this for a long term advantage: an electric road allows all-electric vehicles to recharge anywhere: rest stops, parking lots, etc. They would then have the same range as a gasoline-powered vehicle. Internal combustion engines would become obsolete. Our dependency on oil would come to an abrupt end.

See also

  • In-road electric vehicle charger
  • Solar-charged vehicle


External links

  • http://www.solarroadways.com
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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