|
Asphalt Roads Into Renewable Energy Source Friday, August 15, 2008 - Anuradha Menon Home >> Headlines >> Green Technology   
|
|
Anyone who has walked barefoot across a parking lot on a hot summer day knows that blacktop is exceptionally good at soaking up the sun’s warmth. Now, a research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has found a way to use that heat-soaking property for an alternative energy source. Through asphalt, the researchers are developing a solar collector that could turn roads and parking lots into ubiquitous—and inexpensive–sources of electricity and hot water. (source: wpi.edu)
|
|
|
|
| Related News |
|
Super Fuel Cells |
|
New Technologies Generate Energy from Sea Tide |
| Related Pictures |
|
Solar Concentrator Green Race Car |
|
Morgan LifeCar |
| Other Articles |
|
The Rise of the Phoenix |
|
Shedding Light on Blindness |
|
|||
|
|||
|
"Finally, Mallick says the team concluded that the key to successfully turning asphalt into an effective energy generator will replacing the copper pipes used in the tests with a specially designed, highly efficient heat exchanger that soaks up the maximum amount of the heat absorbed by asphalt. “Our preliminary results provide a promising proof of concept for what could be a very important future source of renewable, pollution-free energy for our nation. And it has been there all along, right under our feet.”" Why bother with the asphalt? |
