New Technology Could Make Roads a Solar Energy Source
The most efficient form of renewable energy may be right underneath us. Researchers at Worchester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts announced today that they have discovered a method to use road surfaces for solar collection.
The key is using the plentiful heat absorbed by asphalt pavement. By experimenting with different asphalt compositions, the team discovered that heat absorption in pavement can be significantly increased with the addition of highly conductive aggregates such as quartzite. Heat exchangers could be placed a few centimeters under the pavement to collect and use solar energy.
Hot water coming from an asphalt-powered system could be used for industrial processes or to heat buildings.
According to WPI, retrofitting roads and parking lots could turn them into massive solar farms, potentially eliminating the need independently constructed solar farms. This would be a huge boon for the solar energy industry, which currently uses huge swaths of land for its projects. The WPI research might also make solar viable in places where it might not be otherwise, as asphalt absorbs more heat than many other surfaces.
Pretty soon, you might just appreciate your local highway a little more.
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August 18th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Great for summertime… what happens to the grid during winter?
August 18th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Sounds like a good idea — but how would such a system hold up under normal road wear conditions? Could such a system be reliable over the long haul without huge maintainance costs?
August 18th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I like the fact that absorbing the heat will help cool down the asphalt. That would help in states like Georgia where tires peel off tractor trailers rolling over super hot highways.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Great idea; however, if they can’t fix the pothole that’s been in front of my house for two years, they’re probably not going to tackle this project anytime soon.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
i need to do more thinking, that’s for sure.
August 18th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Great idea. Things like that will make a HUGE difference if we can pull them off.
August 18th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
This is more smoke and mirrors. Do one parking lot without government subsides. Most asphalt roads need resurfacing every few years.
And fix that guys pothole in front of his house 1st.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:19 am
very good
August 19th, 2008 at 11:11 am
I think it’s a great idea for the future. But I also think it would be a greater idea to collect the solar heat from concrete buildings in the big cities.
PLUS every street with high builings in a big city creates HUGE GUSTS OF WIND at street level where this energy could be collected via wind collecting devices that would be a lot more useful than ugly “gargoyles”.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Its a great Idea, but he cost to tear up and repave all thos roads would be tremendous.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
That could be a revolution in the energy world! I only hope we can actually pull this off financially. the other problem is that the power companies and not going to let go that easily. just like the gas companies are fighting the hydro & electric cars!
August 20th, 2008 at 4:23 am
Hey,
Traffic jams, and all lights are out… We’d better start forgetting about that 5PM Air Conditioned.
August 21st, 2008 at 10:39 am
Kurt,
It’s called research. It’s not smoke and mirrors.
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:19 am
great idea, there are lots of roads and they do get HOT!! It wouldn t be necessary to rip up the whole road, cutting grooves would probably suffice.
August 28th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
It — or something more sophisticated, actually — is already working in the Netherlands: http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1428/
August 31st, 2008 at 1:46 am
“Pretty soon, you might just appreciate your local highway a little more.”
No, no I wont.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Sounds like a great idea! My pop, an old rancher, just covered a labarinth of zig zagging PVC water pipes he built, running from his electric water heater and pump to his swimming pool, with black roofing material using a few two by fours to hold the thick heavy duty asphalt sheets down. The automatic thermostate during the mornings, early evenings, and during the fall and spring months, now turns on the grid electric heater about 20% less than without the black thermal heating from direct So. Cal hot sunlight.
Ever try to walk across an asphalt road or sidewalk barefoot? Only Zen masters or masochists need try.
Fantastic – Global Warming problem of heat expanding roads yield clean heat energy producing.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:22 am
This could turn every blacktop road in the country into solar thermal energy distribution infrastructure. Jobs jobs jobs enabling it all too. Hopefully no imported cheap labor from south of the border will be demanded by US construction contractors to get the projects accomplished.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:59 am
This sounds promising although I have been wondering about the opposite – keep urban hotspots cool by using less heat absorbing asphault (similar to white roofs). If the heat can actually be used though, this is a good idea. How can you be sure that the heat collectors will always work? Is this a passive thing? You wouldn’t want them to malfunction and end up with super hot asphault – imagine the waste of energy during traffic jams (everyone blasting their ac’s and the extra heat added to the environment), or what would happen if your car broke down on the freeway and you were surrounded by blazing hot asphault. Another question – what does the color black do to light to turn it into heat? This is a dumb question, I realize…absorbs something which is energy…the black color soaks up more that would otherwise reflect off and go back out to the atmosphere? My question is, does a black pavement really add to the overall heat of the system, or just concentrate it in one place? Is the whole earth hotter or is is just redistributed? (hotter urban areas=cooler other places, or what??
October 15th, 2008 at 12:22 am
What will happen when rainwater seeps thru the asphalt pavement ?
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:05 am
Very very intresting!!!!
I need more informations…
September 7th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
You can check out a video all about Solar Roadways here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3PeSm6_hTE
The YERT team met Scott Brusaw, the founder, at his home in Idaho and made this video. Pretty interesting– he gets into detail about some of the nuanced pros and cons about the project. Pretty level-headed guy…