Have read a couple of articles recently that presented ideas for using our road networks as ways to harness the sun’s energy.

The first article, in Inhabitat, talked about a solution from Australian company Going Solar. Their idea combines solar panels with a sound barrier along the sides of freeways that pass through residential areas. This cuts the noise level in the houses, while at the same time supplying them with electricity.

Local Distribution
While the roadside system may not be ideal for solar, it does have the benefit of being relatively local to the places where the power is needed. Some of the larger wind and solar projects being talked about for remote areas of the US at the moment are facing the problem of getting the power from the remote location to the towns & cities where it is needed. Our aging power grids are not able to cope, so these projects find themselves being able to generate plenty of green power, but not being able to get it to the people who need it easily.

Going Solar’s roadside solution brings the power generation closer to the homes that need it, reducing the distribution problem to essentially the last mile.

Stored Heat
The other article I read about energy from roads was about using the actual asphalt. Our roads are essentially a massive network of solar energy collectors. Anybody who has walked barefoot on a road surface on a hot summer’s day knows just how hot the roads can get. Even better, that heat is retained for a long time after the sun goes down.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute scientists have been working on a plan to collect that heat energy using a heat exchanger embedded in the road surface. As roads are resurfaced, the heat exchangers could be embedded in them. The hot water flowing out of the heat exchanger can then be used to generate power, or even just as hot water!

At the moment it is still very experimental; the test surfaces the team have been using have copper pipes embedded in them which will need to be changed for a practical solution, but nonetheless it is a promising idea for reusing an existing infrastructure for another purpose. Also, removing the heat from the roads has the added benefit of helping to reduce the heat island effect of dense urban areas.

Tags: asphalt, australia, going solar, heat exchanger, road, solar, worcester polytecnic institute, wpi

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