attacks be addressed?
This has the potential of
causing absolute havoc.
A step forward
• What about light
pollution? This is already
proving to be an annoyance around the world.
Laying down roads that
light up won’t exactly
help the situation.
The Brusaws refuse
to take these criticisms
lying down and have
issued answers to many
FAQs. For example, their
embossed glass design
will not only create traction but also refract light
onto the sensors below,
apparently reducing the
problem of the changing
angle of the sun. Some
of these replies are a
little generic and woolly though, so a direct
rebuttal to the critics,
with hard facts and figures, would be useful.
The FAQ section of their
website can be found in
the link below.
http://www.solarroadways.com/faq.shtml
Admittedly, it does
look like a worrying collection of set-backs and
opponents simply say,
why not just cover the
millions of empty roofs
around the world with
proven, high efficiency
solar panels?
So, does this spell the
end of solar roadways?
I wouldn’t be so sure…
But it’s not all about
the Brusaws. This idea
is also being developed
in the Netherlands, with
the building of a solar
cycle path in the north32
ern town of Krommenie.
A 70 metre stretch of
road is actually currently in use (something
that has been missing
from the Idaho campaign) and supports
around 2000 cyclists a
day, cost 3million Euros
to build (half covered
by the government)
and, an extension of
100 metres, will power
three houses.
Initially developed by
TNO (a Dutch scientific research company), the design is called
SolaRoad, and is slightly different to Solar
Freakin’ Roadways. One
variation for example,
is that the solar cells
are embedded in rectangular concrete slabs
rather than in a tessellating pattern.