10/26/2010

Solar Roadways: The Prototype


**Hot News: Solar Roadways WINS the GE Ecomagination Challenge. $50,000 prize! http://j.mp/crKktO** A big thanks to all who voted for the idea!

The Solar Roadways project is working to pave roads with solar panels that you can drive on. Co-founder Scott Brusaw has made some major steps forward since our first visit back in 2007, so we visited him again earlier this year for an exclusive update on the project, including the first ever video recorded of the Solar Roadways prototype! For more information visit http://www.solarroadways.com . This Solar Roadway project will be featured in the upcoming feature film by YERT - Your Environmental Road Trip. To learn more about YERT, visit http://yert.com . And you can become a fan of YERT on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/YERT/27...

The day when the roads we drive on are as smooth as glass and replace our coal-fueled power plants is officially twelve feet closer. Solar Roadways has made good use of the cash they were awarded by the Department of Energy (DOE) and completed the first prototype of a panel they would like to see supporting the nation's traffic and electrical grid. The mockup module, which doesn't include the use of custom hardened glass with embedded heating element, solar panels or capacitors, is profiled in a series of photos on their new and improved website, and features micro-circuit controlled LEDs to "paint" situation-appropriate lines and messages. If the DOE deems the project fund-worthy after going through the Phase I reports and looking over the polycarbonate-protected prototype, Phase II will involve a "commercialization plan to begin the manufacturing process" and hopefully beget a more advanced product.

The DOE isn't the only group who's taken a fancy to the concept of having an intelligent, self-healing, decentralized power grid for a highway system. Solar Roadways also made the finalists list for the EE Times Sixth Annual Creativity in Electronics Awards for Most Promising Renewable Energy Award. The winner will be made known on April 27th. We wish them luck.

[Source: Solar Roadways]


No comments:

Post a Comment