Solar-powered parkingmeters and pay-stations equipped with solar panels is the beginning of answering to global warming, Solar Roadways has come up with an even better plan to use sunlight. They had a rather brilliant idea and managed to create a prototype of asphalt-replacing solar panels.
But, how do
you make a material, hardened enough to protect sensitive electonics and to be driven on? They thought of a so called 'flight recorder', commonly known as a black box. This seemed like a plausible option, but there's more; Solar Roadways added LED-lights and a heating element to the panel. This way, roadpaint isn't a necessity plus the heating takes care of defrosting the roads to prevent snow and ice from accumulating.
Eventually, the panels were made of glass, textured so agressively that it can stop a vehicle the same way it stops on regular asphalt. So one might expect the 'green asphalt' to be implemented everywhere, as soon as possible, at least, we should hope so, as this sounds almost to good to be true.
The panels can be used for a lot of different applications, such as, for example, parking lots, driveways, sidewalks and bike paths.
If you are interested in this kind of energy collection that pays for at least the cost of the panel, or even stunned by the brilliant idea, you can read more on the Solar Roadways website.
