Intelligent, secure highway infrastructure that pays for itself
We're barely keeping up with the costs of maintaining our roads and bridges as it is, and the cost of asphalt is skyrocketing. We've been using petroleum-based asphalt since the 1950's, but we won't be able to do it much longer. New materials and technologies have to be found to replace our current archaic system. The Solar Roadway™ is an intelligent road that provides clean renewable energy, while providing safer driving conditions, along with power and data delivery. The Solar Roadway™ will pay for itself through the generation of electricity. The same money that is being used to build and resurface asphalt roads can be used to build the Solar Roadways™. Then, since coal-fired and nuclear power plants will no longer be needed, the costs of all electricity generation plants can also be rolled back into the Solar Roadways™. Add too the costs of power distribution systems (power poles, relay stations, etc.) Read more...Link to Our deteriorating and vulnerable highway infrastructure
Decentralized, secure, intelligent, self-healing power grid
Our current power grid is based on centralized power stations. Distribution of power is handled through transmission lines (overhead and underground), relay stations, and transformers. When a line goes down (ice, lighting, wind, tress, utility pole hit by car, etc.), everyone on the wrong end of the line loses power until the damage is repaired. If a power station goes down, an entire section of the country goes dark.
The Solar Roadways™ on the other hand, replaces all current centralized power stations including coal- and nuclear-powered electricity generation plants. With the Solar Roadways™, the road becomes the power grid, eliminating the need for unsightly utility poles and relay stations. Power is generated everywhere - every road, parking lot, and driveway. No more power outages, roaming or otherwise. This is “secure” energy: it can't be deliberately shut down. Not by terrorists, not by power companies, it simply can't be shut down. Read more...Link to Our crumbling power grid
No more dependency upon foreign oil
While only 3 percent of our electricity is generated using oil, it supplies virtually all of our transportation needs. We own only 2 percent of the world's reserves, but we use 25 percent of the world's oil. If we could wean ourselves off of internal combustion engines, we'd have no further need for foreign oil. This will require going with all-electric vehicles. With what we're currently paying at the gas pump, I think the conversion may be more acceptable to the American car owner than we may have thought imaginable!
Electric cars have one major problem: they have to be recharged regularly. This means that they would be fit for running to the local grocery store and back, but it wouldn't be feasible to take a cross country trip. Basically, you'd just go as far as your initial charge would take you. Since the Solar Roadway™ carries electricity, electric cars can be recharged at any conveniently located rest stop along the way, or at any business that incorporates Solar Road Panels™ in their parking lots (restaurants for instance). Just plug your car in and recharge while you're eating or shopping. By the way: using electric cars would eliminate most of the other half of the cause of global warming and could virtually wean us off oil entirely. Read more about our dependency on foreign oil.
Drastically reduces (over 50%) greenhouse gases
Global warming is caused by the release of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. Approximately half of all greenhouse gases are produced by the burning of fossil fuels to create electricity. The Solar Roadway™ on a global scale eliminates this need entirely (see The Numbers). Therefore, the Solar Roadway™ will cut greenhouse gases in half. Transportation accounts for another 25% of greenhouse gases.
Electric vehicles can recharge anywhere along the Solar Roadways™. Elimination of internal combustion engines will take out another 25 percent of greenhouse gases.
Few people still debate our impact on the Earth. Some scientific climate predictions for the year 2050 are happening right now. We can't keep waiting - a major, far-reaching solution has to be implemented right now. Read more about the climate crisis.
Revitalizes the economy
It will take roughly five billion 12' by 12' Solar Road Panels™ just to cover the roads, parking lots, and driveways in the United States. Imagine the manufacturing requirements: it will create so many new jobs that it may very well become the "New Deal" of the 21st century. We can retrain workers from obsolete industries such as coal miners and asphalt workers with new "Green Collar" jobs. Unemployment rates will plummet. Vast sums of money will be injected back into our economy. We could go from being on the verge of a recession to the biggest mobilization this country has seen since WWII. Read more about Green Jobs.
National security
Our decentralized power grid will deny terrorists an opportunity to take out our power grid. Making oil relatively worthless will take away the vast majority of terrorist funding. Eliminating the need to protect our oil interests in hostile lands will keep our troops safe and allow us to redirect the money spent on war to our needs at home. Read more about National Security.
No more nuclear power plants
Since we'll be producing three times more electricity than we can use (see The Numbers), we'll have no further need for nuclear power plants on any kind. No more worrying about another Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. No more stockpiles of radioactive waste. Also, since we can provide Solar Road Panels™ to anyone in the world, we will no longer have to listen to unstable regimes insist that they need nuclear reactors to create electricity, knowing full well that what they really want to produce is weapons-grade plutonium.
Recharges electric vehicles
Since the road generates and carries electricity, electric vehicles can recharge virtually anywhere. For instance, let's say I leave my home here in north Idaho and go on a road trip to Florida. Let's say my all-electric vehicle gets 180 miles on a single charge. That's about three hours worth of driving on the interstate. By then, I'd be about ready for a bathroom break or a snack. I find a restaurant that incorporates Solar Road Panels™ in its parking lot. I pull in to a parking space, plug my car into the "hitching post", and go inside. By the time I'm recharged and ready to go, so is my car. I could do the same thing at a rest stop or a shopping mall.
Driving safety and health benefits
The roads are lit up at night, increasing visibility dramatically. Drivers are warned of wildlife in the road ahead. Drivers are warned away from other potentially dangerous drivers. This is an area in England where solar road studs light up the lines on the road at night. A recent study shows that they have reduced night time accidents by 70%.
Now, add snow and ice removal and wildlife warnings, etc. The roads in northern climates heat themselves, eliminating ice and snow buildup. Cities will no longer have the expense of snow removal and the problems caused by the chemicals (salt, magnesium chloride, etc.) used to maintain clear roads.
Think of what that could do to our automobile insurance rates. Now, take the pollution out of the air. Reduced asthma and other respiratory problems. Better health all around. Imagine what this could do to our health insurance rates.
Aesthetics
No more unsightly utility poles, relay stations, coal stacks, cooling towers, etc. All power lines are replaced by Solar Road Panels™. Data (telephone, cable TV, high-speed internet access, etc.) is contained within the same Solar Road Panels™ and delivered right to your home/business via your driveway/parking lot.
Central power stations such as coal and nuclear plants become obsolete. Power is produced, stored, and distributed via the Solar Roadways™, providing cleaner skies and a picturesque landscape.
Wildlife/driver protection
"Every year, our nation's motorists kill nearly 400 million road animals. For every dead animal counted, three or four more die unnoticed: the walking wounded die far from the road, so only instantly killed animals get counted. Studies by the Humane Society have shown an automotive kill rate of a million animals per day in the US alone. These figures include mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians."
Motion sensors can detect large animals approaching the roadway and steer them away from non-migratory areas. In the event that an animal does get onto the Solar Roadway™, oncoming drivers will be warned of the danger ahead and will be given plenty of time to slow down. This allows the avoidance of a potentially costly and/or deadly collision. Currently, about 200 people die in wildlife related crashes each year.
Parking lots, driveways, patios, and walkways
Businesses will be able to have solar parking lots, which will enable them to quickly go off grid. They will no longer have the expense of snow removal. Their parking lots will be safer at night with the light provided by the LED's. The LED painted parking lot lines will also be customizable at the touch of a button, whenever the business has a need to change their parking configuration.
Homeowners will be able to enjoy solar driveways - no more plowing or shoveling snow. A solar driveway will have many features, including LED lit address markers and the ability to add customized wording, such as "Happy Birthday Heather!" or "Wedding reception here". Homeowners may also want to have solar patios and walkways. This would make these areas usable in winter without the need for shoveling. Slips and falls from slippery surfaces could be eliminated and nighttime visibility increased.