Eco Factor: Solar panels for highways generate electricity and keep commuters safe.
While roof-top solar installations are a great way to keep your home off the grid, highways offer a completely new dimension to solar installations. Researchers predicts that if a mile-long stretch of a highway is fitted with solar panels, the energy generated is enough to move 500 homes off the grid.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded Solar Roadways with a $100,000 grant to prototype its Solar Road Panel, which is an energy-generating panel made from solar cells and glass. The panels will eventually replace asphalt on roads and in parking lots, thereby converting roads into renewable energy generators.
In addition to making roads green energy generators, the system will also include embedded LED lights that will make highways intelligent and display timely warnings to commuters about roadblocks and wildlife up ahead. The panels will also include heating elements that will prevent snow and ice from building up on the road.
With so much being included in the panels, their cost presents a major downside. The company believes that a 12’ by 12’ panel that has the capacity to generate about 7.6KWh of electricity each day will cost about $6,900. However, considering the benefits the panels will bring and the amount of greenhouse gases that will be prevented from entering the atmosphere, it does make it look like a small price to pay.
Via: Inhabitat
