The Green Roadway, a project to generate “green” energy along highways that is endorsed by the Route 66 Alliance, is auctioning patents to states starting today.
What’s interesting is how the Green Roadway aims to generate that electricity. I thought it’d be a mix of standard solar panels and wind turbines to do so. But the New York Times found intriguing other details:
The project’s patent portfolio includes specifications for small wind turbines – 25 feet high or less – powered by both natural wind and the “dirty wind” generated by passing cars and trucks. Another patent covers the deployment of millions of tiny turbines an inch in length or less that could be attached to median guardrails, road signs or noise-barrier walls.
So those big gusts of wind coming from big rigs might do something other than blow dust and sand all over creation.
More …
According to Mr. Fein, the technologies allow for the creation of a utility-scale system that can plug into the existing grid infrastructure, potentially over hundreds of miles. The power generated could be used for homes, businesses and electric-vehicle charging stations. […]
Auction documents suggest that each 10-mile stretch of the Green Roadway system could generate enough energy to power up to 2,000 homes. The installed cost would be about $2.6 million for the solar components and $4.2 million for wind, but up to 65 percent could be knocked off if federal, state and local subsidies and tax credits are factored in, the documents suggest.
They also say that the solar and wind power generated, given the available incentives, would be cost-competitive with natural gas-fueled power generation.
I’m skeptical whether Green Roadway will get what it hopes from the auction (reserves are $125,000 in South Dakota and $1.5 million in California, for instance), especially during a time of a poor economy and cash-strapped state coffers.
But, again, some states might see a market advantage of creating electricity-generating stations for the plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. That would go especially for government-owned cars, thus eliminating the middle man.
And with the inevitable decline of oil as an energy resource, there may be plenty of long-term incentive to build these green stations, also.