Q. Why are 20,000
square miles of asphalt, that are already installed in
the USA, a major advantage?
A. They are a major advantage because:
Roads are already absorbing solar
energy.
Today, like every day, this enormous surface area of asphalt absorbs
many, many, gigawatts of solar energy.
This is true with, or without, a SSC Energy System.
The difference is:
Without SSC, the absorbed energy increases heat island effects and global
warming.
With SSC, the absorbed energy reduces global warming and produces
valuable electricity.
Asphalt is a nearly ideal absorber and emitter
of energy.
Daytime: Ordinary asphalt is a nearly ideal solar energy
absorber. (The ideal "black body" absorption is 1.0 and asphalt
is about 0.90).
Nighttime: Ordinary asphalt is a nearly ideal emitter of radiant heat
energy. (The ideal "black body" emission is 1.0 and
asphalt is about 0.95).
The electric grid already connects most roads.
Most asphalt surfaces are in close proximity to the electric grid,
thereby enabling high efficiency, low cost, electricity
distribution.
For example, city streets usually follow electric power
lines. Street lights indicate electric grid connection.
SSC is like numerous invisible power plants.
After installation of SSC Energy
Systems, buried in asphalt,
the roads look just as they did before.
This is the most environmentally friendly renewable energy solution.
The energy is robustly distributed,
not centralized.
SSC systems are highly distributed, meaning that they are
"robust" (avoid centralized outages) and transmission efficient.
Centralized systems, (e.g.power plants) are "brittle" (experience
centralized outages) and large transmission energy losses.
National security depends on a robust electric grid. (Terrorists
would have to sabotage many thousands
of distributed sites vs. one large central site).
Biology has selected distributed energy storage (e.g. miticondria and
ATP) over centralized energy storage.
Road owners
have substantial pooled funds.
Nearly all asphalt roads are owned by large public groups, which can
pool resources to fund the installation of the energy systems.