This week, within Krommenie, the Amsterdam neighborhood of Krommenie, a small bike trail was officially opened for public use. It’s not that long and isn’t nearly three-quarters the length of an American football field, but it’s maybe a glimpse into the future of a country with more than 22,000 miles of bicycle trails.
Instead of a typical path, this one is made up of massive Lego-like components that are embedded in concrete. The glass layer covers them, then is coated with a rough plastic that prevents the bikes from sliding. There are rows upon rows of silicon solar cells. These cells together transform the bicycle path into a giant solar panel, which plugs directly into the grid. Engineers predict that once the course is extended by 30 yards, which is expected to be completed by 2016, it’ll produce enough power to power three homes.
This may not sound like a lot, but this SolaRoad trail costs around $3.7 million. It’s a considerable sum for a tiny amount of road. However, a partnership between the local government and an assortment of Dutch companies was happy to contribute, hoping to build excitement around solar-powered roads.
Sten de Wit, a scientist at the TNO research institute in the Netherlands, believes that although these solar panels are around 30 % less effective than those that you’d install on your roof because they aren’t adjusted to align with the sun and aren’t angled to follow the sun, they’re likely to be utilized for 20 percent of nation’s roads. And that, experts claim, could end up providing power to street lamps, traffic lights, and possibly electric cars.
The advocates of the idea mention that solar power costs will continue to fall in the future, and solar cells on roads can push energy into the power grid faster than rooftop solar panels. Although solar roofs have to join the grid one home at a time, a road is a one-stop solution. Additionally, roads are closer to where people live than most power stations. Engineers will spend over three years accumulating information to determine whether they’re onto something.
My way to the highway
In the United States, a couple from Idaho, Scott and Julie Brusaw, will watch whether the Dutch experiment develops. They’ve been enthralled with solar-powered roads for a while and are now thinking of something bigger. Their hope is to one day have all concrete and asphalt highways of America substituted with roads made up of solar cells.
Scott Brusaw, an electrical engineer, believes this idea has led to several people claiming that both are naive. He’s been asked the same question time and time. What can a tractor-trailer do not to break a road made of glass? What can it do to prevent it from slipping across the area? How can the road be clear enough to let sunlight reach the solar cells? How much will this wild idea cost?
However, Brusaw continued working on it, trying different materials and developing his product. Five years ago, the Federal Highway Administration was intrigued enough to grant one of the initial funding rounds and grants, including $750,000. Since then, he’s been improving his solar road concept by including LEDs illuminating the road’s white lines whenever they detect a vehicle approaching and the capability of melting the snow or ice.
The solar road has passed load testing tests of vehicles weighing up to 125 tons. He also claims the smooth surface of the road allows vehicles traveling 80 miles per hour to stop within the specified distance. However, the largest surface on which the solar road panels work is a parking area Brusaw built near his barn. It appears that the Department of Transportation has not approved the place as safe for vehicles.
This year, however, the Brusaws received some help from the general public. They set a target of raising $1 million via the crowdfunding website Indiegogo. The pitch video was watched over 250,000 times; they secured over $2.2 million in pledges, which Scott Brusaw described as “humbling.”
The interest also sparked skepticism. One report stated that the idea was “completely impractical,” “expensive,” and a venture that would “never, ever get funded” by the state or local government officials. The author, Joel Anderson, concluded that there are much better options to invest your money rather than making a bet on “this couple’s hobby.”
The Brusaws are planning to begin production of their solar panels before the end of the year and launch a few prototype projects within the city of Sandpoint in Idaho, including some downtown sidewalks as well as a part of the airport runway, perhaps even the casino parking lot that is located in the reservation nearby.
That’s a very far way to replace America’s asphalt highways. But it’s a beginning, as the 75-yard bike paths in Amsterdam.