Global warming and its effect on climate change is real, and it’s frightening. While our political and corporate classes are joined at the hip and still pushing carbon fuels—and even more stupidly, fomenting coups and threatening wars over access to gas and oil—it’s time to look for real solutions. If we don’t find a way to change things fast, the powers-that-be—with their greed, fantasies of exceptionalism, dreams of world hegemony, addiction to fracking and drilling, bullying of countries that don’t submit to U.S. domination, and determination to build toxic sludge-filled pipelines—will push the Earth to her limits. If that happens, and it already is, She will fry all of us—or if we live near a coastline—drown all of us. That’s hardly a world we want to leave to our children and grandchildren.
In answer to this ongoing insanity, Scott and Julie Brusaw have come up with a brilliant idea that could not only save us all from extinction, but solve many other pressing problems in the process. Some have described their invention as world-changing. I second the hyperbole, because, among many other amazing benefits, their invention could end wars for access to oil and gas. Have a look at the following short video and see if you don’t agree.
The Brusaws are crowd funding for Phase II of their project. They have provided the following info at www.indiegogo.com:
- Solar Roadways has received two phases of funding from the U.S. Federal Highway Administration for research and development of a paving system that will pay for itself over its lifespan. We are about to wrap up our Phase II contract (to build a prototype parking lot) and now need to raise funding for production.
- Our glass surface has been tested for traction, load testing, and impact resistance testing in civil engineering laboratories around the country, and exceeded all requirements.
- Solar Roadways is a modular system that will modernize our aging infrastructure with an intelligent system that can become the new Smart Grid. We won the Community Award of $50,000 by getting the most votes in GE’s Ecomagination Challenge for “Powering the Grid” in 2010. We had the most votes again in their 2011 Ecomagination Challenge for “Powering the Home”.
- On August 21, 2013, Solar Roadways was selected by their peers as a Finalist in the World Technology Award For Energy, presented in association with TIME, Fortune, CNN, and Science.
- Solar Roadways was chosen by Google to be one of their Moonshots in May of 2013.
- Solar Roadways was chosen as a finalist in the IEEE Ace Awards in 2009 and 2010.
- Solar Roadways has given presentations around the country including: TEDx Sacramento, Google’s Solve for X at Google’s NYC Headquarters, NASA, Keynote Speaker for the International Parking Institute’s Conference and much more…
- Solar Roadways is tackling more than solar energy: The FHWA tasked us with addressing the problem of stormwater. Currently, over 50% of the pollution in U.S. waterways comes from stormwater. We have created a section in our Cable Corridors for storing, treating, and moving stormwater.
- The implementation of our concept on a grand scale could create thousands of jobs in the U.S. and around the world. It could allow us all the ability to manufacture our way out of our current economic crisis.
If you want a more expanded FAQ page, go here. If you are scientifically inclined, and want to know how much electricity solar roadways can really produce, go here.