Think Green Live Clean

Isn’t it possible that the use of concrete for roads is a little outdated? I mean we build skyscrapers out of pure glass and metal, we back-up our life’s work in ‘cyberspace’, and we send people to the moon on a regular basis…

“Suppose we made a section of road out of ‘a translucent high strength material’ and housed solar cells to collect energy, which could pay for the cost of the panel, thereby creating a road that would pay for itself over time. What if we added LEDs to “paint” the road lines from beneath, lighting up the road for safer night time driving? What if we added a heating element in the surface (like the defrosting wire in the rear window of our cars) to prevent snow/ice accumulation in northern climates?” And thus the Solar Roadways project was born! In 2009 Solar Roadways received a contract from the Federal Highway Administration to build the first Solar Road Panel prototype ever.

Now, if you are a numbers lover I suggest visiting the Solar Roadways website because they show more calculations then you’ll see in whole year of algebra class…but for simplicities sake here are the results. There is currently enough pavement and other impervious surfaces in the contiguous U.S. to power our country four times over if covered with existing technology Solar Panels. This would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50%, and this isn’t even taking into account the use of solar cars on solar roadways… The Solar Roadway will pay for itself in 26 years, which according to Solar Roadway’s calculations is an extremely conservative estimate. I want to drive on a solar roadway, do you?

Check out the Solar Roadways website here