Eco Factor: Plan to install solar panels on highways.
Scott Brusaw, an electrical engineer based in Sagle, Idaho, believes that adding solar panels on rooftops will only be able to generate up to 2 percent of the total electricity demands in the UK. Brusaw further opines that installing PV cells on highways is the way forward for renewable energy.
The inventor plans to create 3.7m square panels that will slot together and link through junction boxes lying beneath them. With a US national average of around 4 hours of sunlight each day, each of these panels will be able to produce about 7.6KWh of electricity, which could either be fed into the grid or stored onsite to allow electric cars to recharge through roadside plug-in points.
However, since photovoltaic panels are fragile, Brusaw has to think of a recipe to make these panels tough enough to withstand the relentless pounding that trucks and other traffic will throw at them. Covering panels with toughened glass is one option, but it leaves the issue of tire grip. Brusaw is planning to use thousands of tiny prisms built into the surface, which will allow tires to grid and will also help direct sunlight into the photovoltaic cells when the sun is low.
Via: New Scientist
