Hello to all who are reading, welcome my first insertion to my personal Odyssey. My goal is to inform, report and teach my audience about news in the business world, interesting evolving technology and a little bit about my own personal philosophies for success and happiness. I hope that you all find my content interesting and fun to read. I will begin my journey by talking about an evolving technology company called Solar Roadways, that is surely paving the way of the future allowing humans the opportunity to be more self-efficient, and decrease our greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 75 percent.

Solar Roadways is a company with a mission to eventually convert all asphalt roads to solar panel roadways that are constantly generating energy. A roadway that will essentially pay for its own creation, maintenance and then some. I know, it seems very far fetched and I’m sure that your mind is attempting to debunk the theory as you read these words. Let me help you think of a few of the extremely apparent problems with solar panel roadways: solar panels are fragile, it would be much more expensive compared to an asphalt road, lines in the road would be harder to make and solar energy is DC current and most houses are AC current. These issues are apparent and truly are real threats. However, Solar Roadways, with their SR3 solar panel, have proven these obstacles to be overcame. They have created a solar panel that is built to last and withstand all the harsh seasons in the northern and southern United States.

Solar Roadways SR3 Solar Panel

The SR3 Solar Panel is by no means fragile. It is made with bullet proof and bomb resistant tempered glass. It can hold up to 250,000 pounds. The computer that operates the LEDs can withstand -40 degrees’ Fahrenheit, all the way to 257 degrees’ Fahrenheit temperatures. Therefore, the durability of these panels is surly not an issue. The panels are designed to heat up when it is cold; one may never have to shovel their driveways again. There will never be snowplows slowing down the highways, and the millions of lives would be saved from the dangerous ice that causes thousands of crashes every year.

The panels are lined with LED lights that allow endless opportunities for organizations to be more efficient with parking lots, roadways, playgrounds, courtyards and any other surface that is paved outside. These roadways can alert us when there is a crash ahead, signify that there is an obstacle in the road at night and direct traffic to a new route if a road is needed to be closed. This technology can prevent so many accidents on the roads it is mindboggling. Also, the technology allows companies that wish to use these solar panels in their parking lots to now configure their parking stalls in whatever order they may desire. They can change them to be different sizes or label and reserve them for their guests and employees.

Rendered Image of LED’s

Another obstacle that many people think is obscuring Solar Roadways is the DC current that solar energy produces, and the AC current that houses run on. The problem is that all energy that is produced by the solar energy would need to be converted to AC to be safely brought into the house, and then converted back to DC to be used by the houses appliances. Every time that the electricity is converted, some electricity is lost. It does seem to be somewhat of a problem for Solar Roadways short term, but long term it is more beneficial for the world. This offers an opportunity to lose no energy to conversion at all. When the current begins and ends with DC current, it only make sense to start making houses wired to accept DC current. Therefore, no energy would need to be lost in conversion at all. If solar power became the dominating energy source, we would be much more self-sufficient and save a lot more money.

Lastly, let’s address the cost of these Solar Roadways. This is surely the company’s biggest obstacle. The only way that Solar Roadways will be able to implement this roadway system at a large scale is if they get their price to produce a solar road down to a point where it will be sustainable to be paid for by tax dollars until there are enough roads for the solar panels to pay for themselves. The way that the company can do this is by offering their product to be sold independently to consumers who are looking to create a parking lot, driveway or any other kind of outdoor patio or transit area. If Solar Roadways can implement this strategy and cover most of the roadways in the United States, they would be able to produce three times the amount of energy that the United States would need to operate that year. At the same time, they would be decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions of the United States by 75%. Just imagine how great the air will smell!

Solar Roadways is a brilliant group of people looking to make a real difference in the world and they need the support of the United States. If you are looking to read more about Solar Roadways you can check out their website at, http://www.solarroadways.com/Home/Index. Thank you for joining me on my personal Odyssey, I hope that you have become as excited about Solar Roadways as I am.