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bloomington-lib Donating Member (513 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-21-11 08:45 PM
Original message
N. Idaho company gets $750K for solar parking lot
Source: Business Week

A northern Idaho company that aims to transform U.S. highways into a vast, energy-producing network is getting $750,000 from the federal government for the next phase of its project: a solar parking lot.

Solar Roadways of Sagle announced Wednesday that it won a Small Business Innovation Research grant for the project from the Federal Highway Administration.

With the money, company founders Scott and Julie Brusaw aim to create a prototype parking lot for testing, but their real dream is for a road system built of 12-foot-by-12-foot solar panels rather than traditional asphalt.

They contain LEDs for illuminating the road lines from beneath the surface and a heating element to prevent snow and ice accumulation in rugged northern climates like Idaho's far north.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9OJIL3G0.htm
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Wilms Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-21-11 09:04 PM
Response to Original message
1. Some links...
Solar Roadways Incorporated Introduction
http://solarroadways.com/intro.shtml


TEDxSacramento - Scott Brusaw - Solar Roadways (1of2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwHtWSFmV1Q

TEDxSacramento - Scott Brusaw - Solar Roadways (2of2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTc26NJfJN0

Solar Roadways: The Prototype
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep4L18zOEYI&NR

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Maine-ah Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-21-11 09:57 PM
Response to Original message
2. knr
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cayanne Donating Member (682 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-22-11 03:18 AM
Response to Original message
3. This is near where I live
We have some sane people up here in N Idaho, Bonner County. Wish they could be ready before winter comes. No snow on the road ... Fabulous!
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jzodda Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-22-11 06:03 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. Sounds like a nice place to live!
how's the cost of living there? I imagine its much cheaper than places like NY.
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jmowreader Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-22-11 08:26 PM
Response to Reply #3
12. You also have people who make Michele Bachmann look liberal
I read the Daily Bee. Y'all got some SERIOUS wingers up there.
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Dogtown Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-22-11 05:54 AM
Response to Original message
4. K&R n/t
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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-22-11 10:42 AM
Response to Original message
6. So we invest 750k in a technology that could render the wars that we spend
trillions on (even more) pointless-then continue on with the weasel talk about the "debt crisis". The rabbit hole just keeps getting deeper.
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jtrockville Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-22-11 11:23 AM
Response to Reply #6
8. Ya, but the technology is still unproven.
Edited on Fri Jul-22-11 11:23 AM by jtrockville
It hasn't yet been proven that the oil barons will be able to rape us at the same degree they are now if we switch to solar. Until that happens, why should the US invest anything? We should be grateful for the 750k.

/wish i was being sarcastic
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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-22-11 11:47 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. Actually it is proven. I'll have to hunt up the video, but the tech is very impressive
they also won a GE grant. It has the very real potential to generate 3x as much energy as America needs every year-AND cut infrastructure repair costs significantly. We should be investing billions now, before peak oil and climate change become even bigger issues.
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jtrockville Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-22-11 02:00 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. Yes, yes, it can generate enough energy, BUT
Edited on Fri Jul-22-11 02:01 PM by jtrockville
can it enrich the oil barons as much as oil does? That's where it's unproven. Keep in mind these folks break their on record for astoundingly enormous profits each and every quarter.
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FSogol Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-22-11 10:58 AM
Response to Original message
7. Wish they received 3 times that amount. n/t
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Uncle Joe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-22-11 11:52 AM
Response to Original message
10. Kicked and recommended.
Thanks for the thread, bloomington-lib.
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