An IndieGogo campaign is pushing forth an effort to seek funding for an idea that’s actually quite far along, but sounds very futuristic in concept: Solar panel roadways that can generate energy and help handle storm runoff at the same time, not to mention be lit up with LED technology and even keep snow and ice from melting on the roads.
The tiles can withstand the weights of incredibly heavy equipment. The developers say broken tiles can be quickly fixed as highway teams will be alerted immediately.
The federal government has actually covered a couple of rounds of research funding, and prototypes have been developed, but the next phase is to build out manufacturing scale to ensure they can be economically produced and sold.
Right now they’re well off their goal of $1 million, with a couple of weeks left, but since is flexible funding any donations will go straight to help the cause, and this looks like a pretty cool concept that has a good amount of work behind it.