Sometimes the stuff that appears fairly obvious afterwards, is the last thing people notice when trying to solve a problem.

These days, labs upon labs' worth of scientists and engineers are trying to figure out new methods of power production. Most people seem to be coming to grips with that fact that the days of all the handy oil-stuff just oozing out of the ground for our enjoyment are coming to an end.

One particular person at the Worchester Polytechnic Institute (a place so far known only for numerous breakthroughs in sauce technology) had an interesting idea. The scientist engineer guy realized that the human race has put a massive amount of time and energy and money into building highways and roads that stretch this way and that. Roads are terrific for getting around, and parking on -- but perhaps there is more we could do with them, he wondered. Like maybe help solve a energy crisis or some such, he hypothesized. 

The idea is that asphalt roads soak up a great deal of sunlight, and get warm -- especially, obviously, in the summer months. If copper pipes were laid underneath the asphalt, you could flow some water through the pipes, and the heat of this water evaporating could be used to propel turbines which in turn could be used to generate electricity! Or, for new buildings, they could maybe use the under-road pipes just to make hot water, instead of using gas furnaces to heat it up. Because, as everybody knows, hot showers are important.

The research project looking into this idea is being directed by a guy named Rajib Mallick. He is really excited about this idea. Here is what he said on the matter: “Blacktop [asphalt] stays hot and could continue to generate energy after the sun goes down, unlike traditional solar-electric cells. In addition, there is already a massive acreage of installed roads and parking lots that could be retrofitted for energy generation, so there is no need to find additional land for solar farms. Roads and lots are typically resurfaced every 10 to 12 years and the retrofit could be built into that cycle. Extracting heat from asphalt could cool it, reducing the urban ‘heat island’ effect. Finally, unlike roof-top solar arrays, which some find unattractive, the solar collectors in roads and parking lots would be invisible.”

One possible problem with this might be thievery, however. Already troublesome poor folk all over the place are stealing stuff like manhole covers, and wiring from foreclosed homes to sell as scrap. (Actually, here in Vancouver a crack-abusing person stole a bronze statue last week, and tried to sell it as scrap, unsuccessfully.) Miles of copper pipe out in the middle of nowhere might be an easy target for criminals. Pipe on busier roads and highways would probably be safe though. 

Anyways -- this Dr. Mallick character is optimistic: “Our preliminary results provide a promising proof of concept for what could be a very important future source of renewable, pollution-free energy for our nation. And it has been there all along, right under our feet.”

Way to go roads!