On Solar Roadways

I'd just like to bring something to your attention - in case you haven't already heard of it. I've only just discovered this website through social media, and I'm so impressed that I want to share it with as many people as I can reach. Please, please please don't just dismiss this. I believe with all my heart that this project can make a huge impact on our world.

It's a project called Solar Roadways - the website can probably explain it better than I can, but I'll give you a brief summary. Basically, they are solar panels with in-built processors and LED lights covered by a super-strong glass in a tile that can be laid on the road. It's a US invention, and they're trying to raise funding for the next phase of development. They've already done tests of all sorts on them to see how well they work, and they've passed all test with flying colours.

I really think this could revolutionize the way our world works. On the website, they talk about how these panels, if laid over the whole road system of the US, could produce 3 times the current power demands of the country. Imagine what we could do with that. The road signalling systems could potentially reduce accidents on the road by making the road lines easier to see. The LEDs that are part of the roads allow the possibility of turning the road into a sign - imagine driving along the road to work and you see a message on the road that warns you of an accident up ahead and directs you to a detour - reducing traffic and congestion. And because it's all linked, you could immediately see when there was an issue with a section of road and dispatch a team to simply replace the plates - no more massive roadworks. The road system could also act as a delivery system for electricity, internet (via fiber-optic cables), even provide coverage for mobile networks. We could do away with telegraph poles and city cell phone towers, and make our planet prettier. It could eventually reduce fossil fuel consumption by powering electric cars on the go. This could be the next big thing since the mobile phone.

It could be a solution to most of the ills facing the developed world. It could solve environment issues like carbon emissions, global warming, as well as provide power, better internet service, better phone coverage, better road surfaces, better road safety, and probably even help economies by creating a whole new infrastructure. I've never seen anything that could make such a huge impact on our world. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to have a project the whole community could get behind? We could be on the forefront of the next stage of a world phenomenon.