Gridlock Guy: Technology to harness sun power around the corner

We are approaching that time of the year when it becomes so hot outside, you can actually fry an egg on the pavement. We’ve seen it done before. I imagine every local television station in all 50 states at one time or another has sent a reporter out to the streets to crack an egg on the concrete or asphalt to watch it cook.

The egg frying is used to illustrate how hot it is outside. It’s a fun little thing that I’m sure we’ve all seen before, but an Idaho couple is developing a different way to harness the energy and heat that are absorbed by our sidewalks, roads and driveways.

The couple, Scott and Julie Brusaw, founded a company called Solar Roadways. Their dream is to replace all of the pavement on our roads with hexagonal glass solar cells that capture the sun’s powerful rays and turns them into electricity.

In theory, these “solar roadways” could produce three times the amount of energy that we currently use here in the United States. Three times. If successful, the solar roadways would be able to power an entire nation of electronic vehicles, completely eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels.

Another possible benefit would be when winter weather hits. The solar cells can be programmed to melt ice and snow off of roadways and collect the water for other uses. No more ice and snow on the roads. That would have come in handy this winter here in Atlanta.

The cells would also be equipped with sensors and LED lights. The sensors would be able to tell if an animal or object was in the roadway in front of you and the LED lights would be able to alert motorists about such obstacles.

The LED lights would also replace current lane striping. The lane lines could be altered at any time, allowing more or less traffic flow depending on conditions.

How realistic is it for solar cells to replace our normal asphalt? Maybe more realistic than you thought. The Brusaw’s have received a handful of grants from the Federal Highway Administration, including one for $750,000 in 2011. As of Sunday morning, private, online fundraising has already topped a $1.7 million.

The movement behind solar roadways is beginning small, with solar cells in driveways and parking lots. They believe that once people see the benefits of harnessing the sun’s energy, the desire for the cells will increase.

The biggest drawback seems to be the cost. Supporters of the Solar Roadways insist that they will pay for themselves and the jobs created making and installing them would be a huge boost to the economy. That remains to be seen, but the idea certainly is interesting.

The technical aspects of the Solar Roadways and the solar cells are too much for me to cover in this column, but if you want from information, a simple web search for “Solar Roadways” will get you a lot more data.