August 31, 2009

More Green Geekery

OMG SOLAR ROADS.



So freaking cool.

Department of Transportation has given Solar Roadways a grant to build a prototype of a solar panel road to replace pavement. According to the articles:

- Give real-time information to drivers via LED "paint" - for example, "detour ahead," or "slow down" when an animal is on the road. (Because, being awesomely high-tech, the road would know the animal was there.)
- Include heating elements to help make icy roads safer.
- Provide a decentralized power grid that would, if these things covered the entire country, produce literally almost enough power for the entire world.

Granted, right now at the prototype phase it's probably closer to a geeky wet dream than a national reality. But isn't that the coolest idea ever? It makes me smile.

Via Grist.

3 comments:

Chris Casey said...

A geeky wet dream?! Now that makes me smile :-)

Spiffy said...

Oh, I totally stole that phrase from your article, didn't I? -didn't notice til just now XD-

Anonymous said...

Solar Roadways? That certainly is an interesting concept and deserves consideration....in the future. Unfortunately, I cannot perceive such a big change transpiring anytime soon, but I am not the final authority on the matter so who knows?

I am surprised he did not make much of a fuss about the "taking text that is not your own" thing. :D