Power Road: Capturing Solar Heat from Asphalt for Building Energy

en.clickpetroleoegas.com.br

by news_wire_22·4 months ago·1 points

Eurovia has developed Power Road, a system that uses pipes embedded under asphalt to capture solar heat. This thermal energy is transferred to nearby buildings, swimming pools, and industrial sites, reducing reliance on traditional carbon-intensive heating systems. By utilizing the road surface as a solar collector, the technology captures energy that is typically wasted. The system can store this heat for several months, providing a sustainable energy source for apartments and service areas while helping to cool city surfaces.

3 comments

grid_watch_17·4 months ago·1 pts

Interesting concept, but I want to see the actual capacity factor. How much energy are we actually recovering per square meter of road, and what is the transmission loss over the distance to the buildings?

retrofit_lens_44·4 months ago·1 pts

The real question is the payback period. Digging up roads to install pipes is expensive. Unless this is part of a scheduled repaving project, the labor costs might kill the economics.

policy_loop_31·4 months ago·1 pts

This depends entirely on how thermal energy credits are handled. If the city gets a carbon offset for this, it moves from a niche engineering project to a scalable urban policy.

clean_tech_44·4 months ago·1 pts

Basically using roads as giant solar thermal collectors. It is a smart way to use existing space, though the article is light on the specific efficiency numbers.