A moose runs by the Solar Roadways™ lab, apparently unaware of (or simply unimpressed with) the technology being developed inside that will save hundreds of her brethren each year. Notice her proximity to the asphalt road on her left.

Since our Solar Roadways™ lab is located in Sagle, Idaho, we also get visits from mountain lions, bears, elk, deer, bobcats, bald eagles, and countless other curious creatures. We'd love nothing more than to help keep them around for future generations to enjoy.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What happens when a Solar Road Panel™(s) gets damaged or destroyed (lightning strike, overturned vehicles, earthquake, etc.)? Couldn’t the Solar Roadways™ short out and leave us all in the dark?

No. Each Solar Road Panel™ will have electrical connections on each of its four sides. A GFI (Ground Fault Interrupter – found our homes to prevent us from being electrocuted if we drop a hair dryer in the bathtub) will monitor each of these connections. If too much current begins to flow (short circuit?), the electrical connection will be shut off, therefore isolating any damaged panels. On a larger scale – say a fuel truck explodes, completely severing the road in half - no one would lose power. All of the panels leading up to your home would still be collecting and storing power. You may lose your cable TV or telephone (land line) until the road is repaired, but you’d still have power.

How much energy will be required to manufacture your Solar Road Panels™? Won’t this negate the environmental effect of your proposal?

That’s a hard number to pin down at this point, but consider this: here in north Idaho, our power is supplied by the Albani hydroelectric dam. We're hoping to build the first Solar Road Panel™ manufacturing plant in Sandpoint, which has an outstanding rail system for distribution. Once the plant begins producing, the first Solar Road Panels™ to roll off the assembly line will be taken immediately out to the parking lot for installation. By the time the parking lot is finished, the plant will be off grid and energy self-sufficient. All subsequent manufacturing facility parking lots would be built out of pre-existing Solar Road Panels™, making our carbon footprint as small as possible. Don’t forget one of the main driving forces of the Solar Roadways™: to drastically reduce/eliminate the carbon footprint of all businesses and individuals.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to just build canopies over the roads to hold the solar panels? Or just place solar panels on the north side of the roads, facing the sun? That way, we wouldn’t have to be able to drive on them?

No. It would be incredibly expensive as you would still have to pay for our current asphalt roads. We plan to use the money already budgeted for roads for the replacement Solar Roadways™. If we still had to build current roads plus the canopies or side panels, the cost would likely be so high that taxes would have to be raised to cover it. You would also lose most of the features of the Solar Roadways™, such as being lit by LED’s for safer night driving. The side panel idea would do nothing to keep the roads free of snow and ice, so northern cities would still have the removal expense and the accidents caused by the unsafe road conditions. Many of the other features would be lost too, such as saving the lives of millions of animals, all aspects of an intelligent road: reporting in with potential problems, reducing crime and terrorism, etc.

What are you going to do about traction? Cars slip and slide on wet asphalt, let alone wet glass. What’s going to happen to the surface of the Solar Roadways™when it rains?

Everyone naturally pictures sliding out of control on a smooth piece of wet glass! Actually, one of the many technical specs for the top layer it that it be textured to the point that it provides at least the traction that current asphalt roads offer – even in the rain. I hesitate to even call it glass, as it is far from a traditional window pane, but glass is what it is, so glass is what we must call it.

Last year, I attended a three day workshop called the International Workshop on Scientific Challenges for New Functionalities in Glass in Arlington, Virginia. I received quite an education in the properties and abilities of glass! I presented the Solar Roadways™ to an international audience of glass scientists. Afterward, I was invited to travel north and present our project to Penn State University’s Materials Research Institute. I had lunch with several of their research scientists after my presentation. By the end of this trip, I had been thoroughly convinced that the glass specs that I had presented would not pose any problems – and traction was the easy part.

How are you going to keep the surface clean?

While at the International Workshop on Scientific Challenges for New Functionalities in Glass, I learned of a new technology: self-cleaning glass. From Wikipedia: “Self-cleaning glass is a specific type of glass with a surface which keeps itself free of dirt and grime through natural processes. The glass cleans itself in two stages: the ‘photocatalytic’ stage of the process breaks down the organic dirt on the glass using ultraviolet in sunlight (even on overcast days) and makes the glass hydrophilic (normally glass is hydrophobic). During the following ‘hydrophilic’ state, rain washes away the dirt – leaving almost no streaks, because hydrophilic glass spreads the water evenly over its surface.”

It is yet to be seen if this process will be enough to keep our Solar Roadways™ operating under optimal performance (100% clean surfaces), but it will certainly put a dent in a potential problem. There will be some obvious obstacles such as oil spills, sandstorms, storm debris, etc. Here’s the worst case scenario: when I was a kid in southern California, we used to chase street sweepers (vehicles with large rotating brushes) down the street. We still use them in the springtime here in north Idaho to clear the roads of the sand that was used for traction during the winter months. Similar vehicles could be used when needed to maintain a clean road surface on the Solar Roadways™. Again, this is worst case and only if the self-cleaning properties of the glass aren’t enough to do the entire job.

How much power can you expect to get out of a one-mile stretch of road?

One mile = 5280 feet. Our Solar Road Panels™ are 12' by 12'. Therefore, it will take 5280/12 = 440 panels to create one  mile (one lane, 12 feet wide). Each panel is expected to produce 7600Wh of electricity based on 15% efficiency and four hours of sunlight per day (for more details, see the Numbers page).

440 times 7600Wh = 3.344MWhr per lane per mile. So a typical four lane highway will produce 13.376MWhr per mile, based on four hours of sunlight per day.

Some of the roads in our neighborhood never see sunlight. Does that mean that we'll never see the Solar Roadways™ in our neighborhood?

No. Every Solar Road Panel™ has the ability to collect and store energy from the sun. Even the panels that never see sunshine can store the energy collected by nearby panels that are in the sun. We would install Solar Road Panels™ in tunnels and under bridges, knowing that they will never see sunlight themselves. Remember, we can produce three times more electricity than we have ever used. Theoretically, that means that only one-third of the Solar Road Panels™ ever have to see the light of day. The rest of the "shaded" panels will act as energy storage devices. They will still light up (nice for those tunnels!), melt snow and ice, report problems, etc., using the power that was collected by the panels in the region that did have access to sunlight.