What is black and covers square miles of area? If you answered roads than you're right! Roads all over the world cover huge amounts of area, but they only serve one purpose- to help us get to our destination.

That may soon be changing though. A company called Solar Roadways has recently gotten a grant for $100,000 to develop 12' x 12' segments that would be used as a road surface.

Of course these road segments will have to go through some extensive testing to make sure that they don't wear out to fast from traffic.

Of course one of the problems is going to be the cost. I haven't yet heard how much each segment will cost, but it will for sure be more expensive than asphalt. Like regular solar panels I'm expecting that each segment probably won't pay for itself for at least 10 - 15 years.

One of the really interesting features I found out was these segments have LED's (light emitting diodes) built right into them. These lights can light up the lines at night and could even illuminate signs that are built right into the road.

We're at least 5 years from seeing any of these solar panel road segments installed, but this is another of those really good ideas. Converting current roads to serve two purposes is great.

If anybody has any further information feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to hear more about how this is progressing.

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