Inventors Hold the Vision for the Future – Solar Panel Roadways – Make the World Move in the Right Direction

Asphalt has long been the best solution we’ve had for roads, but today the world’s leading innovators are testing glass as the new solution to solar roadways. Calling it “intelligent pavement”, innovators are now on the way to developing glass-based, intelligent, electronic panels, powered by the sun, as a roadway solution for the future.

Imagine a world where roadways are programmed under our tires to inform us when to slow down, the best speed for the climate and where your next pit-stop might be. Imagine a roadway that supplies power to your home and community! Imagine a parking lot that recharges your vehicle while you’re at work! Solar roadways offer just that.

In Idaho, USA, revolutionizing research in solar roadways is taking place. The dynamic husband and wife team, Scott and Julie Brusaw, have jointly committed their lives to the future of Solar Roadways. Scott and Julie met when they were four and three years old, respectively. Together for a lifetime, Scott envisioned “electric roads” in early childhood, and together they turned the imagination of a child into the vision for our future. As if it were “meant to be”, this husband and wife team saw the opportunity for a better world and became co-inventors of the solar roadway solution!

Scott says, “There are twenty-five thousand plus square miles of road surfaces, parking lots and driveways in the lower forty-eight states of America. If we covered those with solar panels and were able to obtain just fifteen percent efficiency from those surfaces, we’d produce three times more electricity than this country uses on an annual basis, and it’s almost enough to power the entire world.”

With a strong understanding of energy sources and the opportunities they hold, Scott says, “Our goal is to ‘provide more clean energy than we can use’ by retrofitting roads with structurally-engineered, recyclable solar panels that are driven upon. This reduces greenhouse gases, creates countless green jobs, and eliminates dependence on oil by allowing electric vehicles to recharge virtually anywhere. The result will be an intelligent, decentralized, secure, self-healing smart grid, which provides clean energy generation and distribution. This will prevent power outages, allow real time monitoring, and enhance national security.”

Julie says, “Retrofitting parking lots, driveways, sidewalks, bike paths and playgrounds with structurally-engineered Solar Road Panels allows businesses, homes and schools to produce their own clean renewable energy, and connect to the Solar Roadways grid. Embedded heating elements prevent snow accumulation and LEDs will “paint” customizable lines, words and graphics within the road itself. Our long range goal is to cover all concrete and asphalt surfaces that are exposed to the sun with Solar Road Panels. This will lead to the end of our dependency on fossil fuels of any kind.”

The Journey Ahead

Scott says, “We’re aware that this won’t happen overnight. We’ll need to start off small: driveways, bike paths, patios, sidewalks, parking lots, playgrounds, etc. This is where we’ll learn our lessons and perfect our system. Once the lessons have been learned and the bugs have all been resolved, we’ll plan to move out onto public roads.

“Imagine a major fast-food chain retrofitting their parking lots across the nation: an all-electric vehicle (EV) could now recharge in those parking lots when needed. This removes the range limitation for EVs (eliminating their need to be recharged at home every night) and makes them far more practical. People would be more likely to trade in their internalcombustion engine vehicles for all-electric vehicles. Other businesses would see the advantage of retrofitting their parking lots: they could either go off-grid or put a huge dent in their monthly electric bill. They would also attract more customers, who would eat or shop in their stores as their EVs recharged in their parking lots. As more businesses jump on board, the EVs become more and more practical.

“With businesses going solar (rather than using electricity created by burning fossil fuels) and more drivers opting for EVs (over gas/diesel engines), the beginning of the end of fossil fuel dependency would finally be at hand.

“After the Solar Roadways technology is proven in parking lots, then the next logical step would be residential roads, where speeds are slower than highways and trucks are not as common. The final goal should be to transform the nation’s highways”.

Source: www.solarroadways.com For more information or to support this project, please contact: julie@solarroadways.com