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Saturday, November 15th, 2014

Introducing the world’s first solar road

Author:     Zach Wener-Fligner
Source:     Quartz
Publication Date:     November 13, 2014
 Link: Introducing the world’s first solar road
Stephan:   Here is more good news about solar. If we took the billions spent to subsidize carbon energy, and just put those dollars to work creating alternative energy, in a decade the world would be transformed. It takes about 30 years to completely change infrastructure -- building the interstate highway system for instance. But ideas like this give us a glimpse into the possible.
A new path in roadways. Credit: SolaRoad

A new path in roadways.
Credit: SolaRoad

The developed world is covered in paving. In the US, for example, there are 2.65 million miles of paved roads, which translates, by one estimate, to a total area roughly the size of Ohio.

 What if those roads could also generate energy?
 That’s the idea behind SolaRoad, a Dutch company that on Wednesday opened the first functional road that doubles as a solar panel.
The new road starts small, covering just a 100-meter (330-foot) stretch of bike path in the province of Krommenie in the Netherlands. The company is still working on tweaking and improving the technology, and this road is more of a trial run than the start of a full-fledged deployment. Still, the company expects the energy generated from the solar panels to be enough to power three households.
The idea that dirty concrete could be transformed into a clean power generation is an […]

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