The Future Of Solar Roads: The Future Of Travel

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Solar Roads: The Future of Travel Roads are useful and often necessary, but are limited to a single purpose in addition to being expensive, dangerous, and environmentally-unfriendly. What if I told you there is something better? Because there is. Welcome to solar roads, the versatile, cost-effective, safe, and green future of travel. Solarroadways.com, the main website about solar roadways, explains that solar roads are hexagonal boards that are an alternative surface/building material and act as a vast network of passive solar collectors. They replace standard asphalt roads with roads made of solar cells. Enormous measures of renewable energy could be created by these paneled roads. Unlike ordinary roads, solar roads are constructed of solar …show more content…

Solarroadways.com explains that even though solar roadways cost 70 dollars per square foot, unlike asphalt roads, solar roads are so efficient that, if installed nationwide, they would pay for themselves over the course of a year. Solar roads would convert the sun’s energy into electrical energy. The energy would be stored using “virtual storage", meaning that excess energy would be placed back into the grid during daylight hours and then could be drawn back out of the grid in the evening. The power generated by the solar roads is worth more than it would cost to replace our existing nationwide road infrastructure. In fact, according to Mr. Brusaw, a nationwide network of solar roads would generate over three times the electric power America consumes each year. This would result in tremendous energy savings for every American, plus the potential for profitable energy exports, in addition to covering the cost of the solar roads. Ordinary roads, on the other hand, just sit around and deteriorate. Ordinary roads constantly need to be repaired, repainted, and replaced. While solar roadways also need to be repaired and replaced every 20 years, they pay for themselves in the long run. Spending and Funding for Highways, an article about annual costs of roads by the Congressional Budget Office, says that the US spends approximately 57 billion …show more content…

Commonhealth.wbr.org, a website about health care, personal health, medical research, payment reform and more, says that in 2013 in the United States, about 33,804 deaths were from unintentional motor vehicle accidents. Since traveling by car is Americans’ main source of transportation, safe roads are needed. Solarroadways.com continues that solar roads can likely result in fewer collisions since the roads are pressure sensitive. For example, when a road hazard is present and one’s vehicle approaches it, a solar road can sense the hazard and alert the driver by displaying a warning message using the LED lights in the solar panel circuit boards. Another way solar roads promote road safety is by preventing obstacles such as potholes from developing. Solar roads are not susceptible to pothole formation since the solar panels don’t crumble. Furthermore, solar roads avoid problems associated with accumulation of water, ice, and snow by using heating elements to keep each individual panel above zero degrees Celsius and by draining excess water via integrated drainage channels. Also, solar roadways can be heated up to 257 degrees. Their ability to withstand heat keeps the roads from melting from friction, hot objects, and sunlight. Additionally, when panels themselves become obstacles, such as when they are damaged, they can be easily identified through the solar roads’ network of microprocessors, and can then be fixed or replaced.

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