As a kid growing up in the mid-1960s, Scott Brusaw would spend hours setting up miniature speedways on the living room carpet so that he could race his favorite slot cars up and down the electric tracks
Fast forward to mid-2000s, with the debate over global warming in full swing, Brusaw's wife Julie asked him whether he could build the electric roads he'd concocted as a child out of solar panels. Brusaw initially laughed off the idea -- but not for long
"Our original intent was to help solve the climate crisis," says Brusaw. "We learned that the U.S. had over 72,000 square kilometers of asphalt and concrete surfaces exposed to the sun. If we could cover them with our solar road panels, then we could produce over three times the amount of energy that we use as a nation -- that's using clean, renewable energy instead of coal."
Artist's rendition of Sandpoint, Idaho, the home of the Solar Roadways project.
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The Idaho-based couple received their first government contract to work on the project in 2009, and have been working to perfect it ever since. Initially, they joined forces with researchers to develop a super-strong textured glass that would offer cars the traction they require. Then, they fitted LEDs road markers to avoid destroying the cells by painting highway lines over them and heating to warm the surface and keep the system working.
Now, the pair is hoping to raise enough funds on crowdfunding site Indiegogo to gear up production following the successful test of its latest prototype: a Solar Roadways parking lot laid next to their electronics lab.
"They [solar panels] prevented snow and ice accumulation this past winter and are producing the expected amount of power -- the parking lot is equivalent to a 3600W solar array," says Brusaw, who's hoping to be ready for production later this year or early 2014.
"The panels have passed load testing for vehicles weighing up to 125 tons without breakage," he adds. "Our textured surface has been traction tested and can stop a vehicle traveling 128kph on a wet surface in the required amount of distance."
