Solar Roadways Project Smashes Crowdfunding Records, Raised $1.7 Million And Rising

Every now and then an Indiegogo project comes along which really captures the public imagination and this latest project is a great example of that. The Solar Roadways project seeks to replace roads, pavements, parking lots, tarmac and other traversable surfaces with hexagonal solar panels that connect together to form a replacement surface. These solar panels boast an impressive range of features such as having built in microprocessors which provide health status updates on whether a particular hexagonal unit needs replacing and an interlocking design with state of the art tempered glass that is able to meet the impact, load and traction requirements of road surfaces. Of course the best part about them is quite obvious – they generate electricity which allows them to pay for themselves and potentially lower the cost of electricity in the areas where they are deployed (expect fierce resistance from utility companies). For areas that experience snowfall and regular road freezing the solar panels are able to use the energy generated by the solar panels to melt the ice cover using a built in heating element which on its own has the potential to save every country billions in lost working hours, less insurance claims and so on. Every solar panel also has built in LEDs which means it can change road markings at any time to move lanes around, change speed limits, remove or add extra cycling lanes and more! No more road resurfacing, no more lane repainting, no more road salting! It doesn’t just stop there, the built in pressure sensitivity also means the roads are capable of identifying and warning drivers of obstructions, and the roads also carry electricity lines, fibre optic internet cables (removing the need for telephone lines) and have a built in channel to move flood and storm waters. Wait there’s more….but I’ll be here forever explaining to be sure to check out the video below for the full run-down on this great new technology:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTA3rnpgzU[/youtube]

Be sure to check out the Indiegogo project page for more details.

Source: Indiegogo

Image courtesy of Solar Roadways