Imagine a world-wide system where the "lit" half of the world is always powering the "dark" half of the world.
In this world everyone has power. No more power shortages, no more roaming power outages, no more need to burn coal (50% of greenhouse gases). 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, including rest stops and parking lots. They would then have the same range as a gasoline-powered vehicle. Internal combustion engines would become obsolete. Our dependency on oil could come to an end. The development of the Solar Roadway is a technology which offers the ability to bring such a world to fruition.
The Solar Roadway is a series of structurally-engineered solar panels that are driven upon. 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.
The 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.
When multiple Solar Road Panels are interconnected, an intelligent Solar Roadway is formed. These panels replace current driveways, parking lots, and all road systems, be they interstate highways, state routes, downtown streets, residential streets, or even plain dirt or gravel country roads.
Panels can also be used in amusement parks, raceways, bike paths, parking garage rooftops, and remote military locations. Any home or business connected to the Solar Roadway (via a Solar Road Panel driveway or parking lot) receives the power and data signals that the Solar Roadway provides. The Solar Roadway becomes an intelligent, self-healing, decentralized (secure) power grid.
It's time to upgrade our infrastructure - roads and power grid - to the 21st century.
Solar Roadways is a startup company which has received US$100,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. Additionally, the company has been entered into GE's Ecomagination Challenge: a $200 million innovation experiment where businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators and students share their best ideas on how to build the next-generation power grid - and just might get funded.
You can support Solar Roadways' submission to the Ecomagination Challenge by voting for them at http://solarroadways.com/vote.shtml.
Any opinion contained in this article is solely that of the writers, and does not necessarily shapes or reflect the editorial opinions of Energy Boom.
Energy Boom content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be advice regarding the investment merits of, or a recommendation regarding the purchase or sale of, any security identified on, or linked through, this site.
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