Asphalt Roads Heat Buildings, Road in Winter

[Chuck]

Roads last longer, summer heat keeps buildings warm and roads ice-free in winter, extends road life.

Arthur Max – AP – Dec. 31, 2007

An effective way to put urban heat islands to use with solar hot water - Ed

SCHARWOUDE, Netherlands (AP) — If you've ever blistered your bare feet on a hot road you know that asphalt absorbs the sun's energy. A Dutch company is now siphoning heat from roads and parking lots to heat homes and offices.

As climate change rises on the international agenda, the system built by the civil engineering firm, Ooms Avenhorn Holding BV, doesn't look as wacky as it might have 10 years ago when first conceived.

Solar energy collected from a 200-yard stretch of road and a small parking lot helps heat a 70-unit four-story apartment building in the northern village of Avenhorn. An industrial park of some 160,000 square feet in the nearby city of Hoorn is kept warm in winter with the help of heat stored during the summer from 36,000 square feet of pavement. The runways of a Dutch air force base in the south supply heat for its hangar.

And all that under normally cloudy Dutch skies, with only a few days a year of truly sweltering temperatures.

The Road Energy System is one of the more unusual ways scientists and engineers are trying to harness the power of the sun, the single most plentiful, reliable, accessible and inexhaustible source of renewable energy — radiating to earth more watts in one hour than the world can use in a whole year… [Read More]

[rhwinger]

Why didn't I think of that??

Why don't we use it?

[ILAveo]

It's more or less a form of horizontal loop Geothermal. Come to think of it, I know an engineer who did a similar thing to keep snow off his driveway.

Nifty idea, I think I'll mention it to a county engineer I know--he would only have to negotiate with himself and his architect.

[Blake]

cool! I wonder how long it will be before its widespread in use.

[Chuck]

There is one catch about any kind of asphalt road - it's slick when it starts to rain. Still, there are numerous applications, including parking lots, plus there is nothing that can prevent using concrete for this type of solar application.

If this is useful in the Netherlands, the potential in Sunbelt states will be enormous.

[desdemona]

Originally Posted by Delta Flyer

There is one catch about any kind of asphalt road - it's slick when it starts to rain. Still, there are numerous applications, including parking lots, plus there is nothing that can prevent using concrete for this type of solar application.

If this is useful in the Netherlands, the potential in Sunbelt states will be enormous.

I can vouch for the fact that the streets rarely get snow and ice on them. The yards may get snow but the streets are too warm. This is a really neat idea. If it can be used in a place like Norway, should be handy anywhere. Of course, I am maintaining that solar is MUCH more useful (and not just a niche fuel source) providing there is some imagination going on--- and perhaps $$$ in R&D at all levels of government and private industry.


--des

[koreberg]

The dutch seem to be coming up with a lot of interesting things. I really like their wind turbines for urban areas. The carver 1 is a nice vehicle too.

[Chuck]

It may be a matter of time before someone here paints their car hood black and has a network of coolant hose under it to heat.

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Um, you mean like my Elantra?

[Chuck]

If our East Coast had roads like this now, it could reduce a lot of work/school closures.