In future, the road heats you - solar energy stored in asphalt
Some people have said that the U.S. highway system is "the silliest thing that any people ever did to themselves." Well, if we replaced at least some of the endless roads in this country with the solar-heat-storing asphalt developed by Ooms Avenhorn Holding BV, I think that would go a long way to making the highways a lot less silly.
The AP had a story a few days ago on Ooms Avenhorn, a Dutch company that has found a way to use some of the heat that road naturally suck up to heat office buildings. The system (first imagined ten years ago) certainly seems efficient: one test patch - made up of 200 yards of road and a small parking lot - generated enough heat for 70 apartments in a four-story building. As the AP writes, this happened "under normally cloudy Dutch skies, with only a few days a year of truly sweltering temperatures."
How does it work? I'm glad you asked. Water is run through pipes under the asphalt and heated from the warmth of the road. This heated water is then pumped underground and stays warmish at 68 degrees F. The water can be sent to nearby houses (where it must be heated a bit more) and, during winter months, this water can be pulled up to prevent ice from building up on the road. The pump can also call on the water to cool the buildings on hot summer days. The problem? The pipes and the rest of the system double the cost of building the road.
Check out the AP story for details, and you can also download a PDF from Ooms Avenhorn describing the technology.
Related:
[Source: AP via CNET and Jalopnik]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dr. B. Baffa 6:34AM (4/25/2008)
The cost of installstion one set of the solar energy street light and many is required per kilometer.
Thanks B. Baffa
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Nils 7:23AM (1/06/2008)
This is not really new. Here in Belgium there's a group of 13 single-family houses that get all their heating from the stretch of road in front of them. The company 3E did the calculations.
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rgseidl 9:01AM (1/06/2008)
Using asphalt as a heat collector is expensive because of the high mechanical load on road surfaces. Legally, too, installing the collector pipes in the south-facing facades and roofs of buildings is easier.
Regular heat pumps can then be used to raise the temperature of the hot water used for underfloor heating. In summer, the collectors can be used to wick solar irradiation away from the building's surface, provided an adequate heat sink is available. When combiuned with retractable awnings, an A/C compressor would no longer be required.
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Tim 3:42PM (1/06/2008)
This would also be relatively inexpensive to incorporate in the exterior skin and roofs of buildings. Thermal solar is much more cost effective than PV at this time. Mass produced thin film PV may tip the scales.
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John H. Hughes 10:42PM (1/16/2008)
In Arizona the heat gain from roads and parking lot surfaces is tremendous. Use of the Ooms methodology for both production of electricity and cooling would appear to have considerable merit. I note that Plug Power now has a relationship to this firm.
Can someone provide more information for use of this or similar methodologies in this area?
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