To the environmentally minded “roads” do not bring many good things to mind. Roads scream “pollution” in the form of green-insensitive egomaniacs obsessed with driving their Humvees & other gasoline-guzzling remnants of an unsustainable past. They are the scourge of the planet, grey atrophied veins criss-crossing our green earth, determined to tear it apart. But no longer...
If it’s up to Pureti and Solar Roadways this nightmarish associations with roads will soon be retired to a distant past. US-Based Pureti is developing a chemical surface treatment which, when applied to a road deck, will absorb nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfure dioxide (SO2,). The treatment consists of Titanium Dioxide, a chemical used to add white pigment (if used in food it has E number E171), which should absorb upto 70% of the NOx. NOx refers to NO & N2O, two highly potent GHGases - NO2 has 310 times more impact than CO2 - and SO2 is one of the main contributors to acid rain and the ever-increasing smog. The capturing (or avoidance) of those two would be a big help in the fight against Global Warming.
Solar Roadways’ idea, despite their promising logo, is slightly more futuristic , and a lot more research is needed to make the project cost-effective, but it is definitely worth looking into. The couple behind Solar Roadways envision a future in which all roads are solar powered, generating electricity for traffic lights and even surrounding plots (when it’s really sunny). This idea might also have some merit in a world in which the weather is getting increasingly erratic & wild, and blistering summers and snowstormy winters increasingly common. The electricity generated by the roads could help keep those same roads snow-free, avoiding environmentally and financially unsound alternatives...Thank you to The RecycleTimes for bringing our attention to these infrastructure developments.
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