Every
now and then, I hear about someone, or something, that is so far beyond my scope
of intelligence that my ego is stunned into frenetic submission, like a person Tasered
by a troop of enthusiastic, but well-intentioned, gendarmes.
While
my own personal problem of the day might be pondering the repercussions of
whether or not I should shave, others of a much more illuminated plane of
thought, are actually trying to enhance, salvage, or restore, the overall well-being
of this planet’s inhabitants.
Such
is the case with Scott and Julie Brusaw of Sagle Idaho, and their idealistic
concept of replacing the highways and byways of America with hexagonally shaped
platters of virtually indestructible solar panels.
As proponents of the ingenious
scheme proclaim, not only would the resulting production estimates of viable electricity
be more than triple current demand, the disks would also drastically reduce,
and even eliminate, many requirements for snow clearing, and dynamically lower
the carbon footprint now demanded for asphalt paving. The addition of digital L.E.D.
circuitry to the plates would also permit roadway lane illumination and parking
lot signage, as well as emergency alerts and highway directions and notifications.
And, the additional fact that the segments can all be generated from recyclable
materials has the majority of environmental advocates giving the project a big green thumbs
up!
Critics
of the cause present some interesting and possibly valid objections to the
Brusaw’s proposals, but so far, the inventors have been able to parry
effectively with counter-points backed by very convincing statistics. You can check out their FAQ site here.
Personally,
I love the idea that if a moose, deer, bear, coyote or other animal of known
local habitation chooses to cross the highway in front of me on a dark evening,
digital signage in the roadway could alert me well in advance to slow down
sufficiently to hopefully avoid a tragedy involving them or my family. Plus, I
am totally jazzed about the possibility of turning an entire shopping center’s parking
lot, or a city square into a series of gaming courts or even a disco ballroom
at the flick of a sequence switch.
As
a Canadian citizen I am a hockey fan by automatic mandate, and so I am obliged
to imagine the chilling entertainment and even the horrendous advertising possibilities of one of these
things installed under the ice. Oooohh! The endless potential and advantages make
me shiver in erratic anticipation. I can almost see and hear hockey commentator Don Cherry now, demanding
a suit made from the same materials.
And,
as far as concerns go... I am already wondering just how well the heated highway
would work during a week or two spell of our Great White North’s -40C winter weather,
with potential intermittent snowfalls of between one and three feet. In addition,
with the current price tag of the individual solar segments being so high, I question
who would pay for the 24-7 armed guards who would need to be deployed, fed, and
housed, along the proposed construction route in order to fend off would be road
warriors from hi-jacking the honeycomb.
Nevertheless…
the concept is stunningly magnificent! Hopefully, it will stimulate each person
who views the project into visualizing a much more progressive world which is actively
engaged in the collective well-being of our environment rather than it's destruction, and how we might someday, somehow, assist in the former, noble undertaking. –
J.
Article Copyright J. Michael Lyffe - 2014
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