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U.S. firm seeks to transform sidewalks to solar energy resource

Solar Roadways, a innovative firm based in the US state of Idaho, has unveiled a project it hopes will lead to the transformation of thousands of miles of pavement into a new source of ubiquitous renewable energy.
U.S. firm seeks to transform sidewalks to solar energy resource

The installation, located in a downtown Sandpoint, Idaho, a resort community in the northern part of the state, features 150 square feet of hexagon-shaped solar panels that people can walk and even bicycle on.

"Our plan is to replace all the asphalt and concrete [in the US]," company founder Scott Brusaw told the Associated Press recently.

Concrete covers about 48,000 square miles in the US.

Brusaw believes that if one were to simply cover it with solar panels, that nation would easily be able to make three times the energy it needs.

There are similar projects in other parts of the world -- a solar bike path was built in the Netherlands in 2014, and full-blown roadway projects are in the works in France and Germany -- but Solar Roadways, founded in 2006, is the only company currently receiving federal money to pursue its dream in the US.

To date, the company founded by Brusaw and his wife, Julie, after they watched the Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient Truth," has received $1.6 million from the US Federal Highway Administration.

The couple raised another $2.2 million from 50,000 donors through Indiegogo, a crowd-funding website.

Their plan is to open a Solar Roadways manufacturing plant to produce their patented glass panels next year.

In the meantime, they are conducting a series of tests to show the panels are strong enough and provide enough traction to be safely traversed by cars and large vehicles, including tractor trailers.

So far, the tests have been successful, the company said.

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Solar Roadways

Baterías con premio en la gran feria europea del almacenamiento de energía
El jurado de la feria ees (la gran feria europea de las baterías y los sistemas acumuladores de energía) ya ha seleccionado los productos y soluciones innovadoras que aspiran, como finalistas, al gran premio ees 2021. Independientemente de cuál o cuáles sean las candidaturas ganadoras, la sola inclusión en este exquisito grupo VIP constituye todo un éxito para las empresas. A continuación, los diez finalistas 2021 de los ees Award (ees es una de las cuatro ferias que integran el gran evento anual europeo del sector de la energía, The smarter E).