Pitch
Asphalt is very HOT during daytime hours when the sun is out. Transfer that heat energy into mechanical energy then into electrical energy.
Description
Summary
Asphalt can become very hot during the day near 150 degrees F.. My idea is to transfer some of the heat in the road to evaporator coils containing freon or ammonia imbedded in the asphalt just below the surface to absorb solar heat to boil freon or ammonia in the evaporator. The boiled freon /ammonia can spin a turbine connected to a generator to produce electrical power for homes or businesses during daylight hours and for the afternoon and evening peak loading to drive down fossil fuel GHG's. A deep well can be drilled next to each site and the deep cool well water 50 to 60 degrees F. or deep cool lake water or deep cool ocean water can be used as the cooling medium for the condenser for the Rankine Heat engine depicted below.
At various strategic locations where ever these are located they can have charging stations for electric cars like the Tesla Motor cars where they can stop for 1/2 hour and get a 200 mile run time charge or have them as a battery charging station where they can just exchange low batteries for newly charged batteries and swap them out quickly and be on the road again in the same time it would take to fill your car with gasoline. You can set up a battery exchange program for a certain amount of dollars. All excess power would go to homes and businesses in the local area which would be good for load control and voltage purposes for the grid especially during the afternoon and evening peak hours due to proximity...
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/100years/stories/otec.html
Category of the action
Mitigation - What U.S. Federal Agencies can do to mitigate climate change
What actions do you propose?
The conversion of energy works well in the above model so basically you are converting solar radiative heat energy that the asphalt absorbed into conductive heat for the evaporator imbedded in the asphalt and transferring that heat to the freon or ammonia from the evaporator coils. The chemical compound freon or ammonia transfers it's kinetic energy into mechanical energy for the turbine. The turbine motion transfers mechanical energy into electrical energy in the generator. As the generator produces power this drives down the need for fossil fuel and so GHG's are reduced which help prevent anthropogenic climate change. The governments "Climate Action Plan" would help fund the idea: http://www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change
Who will take these actions?
Working along with the department of transportation government can establish such laws to drive down Co2 30% by 2030. This can help them get there. Organizations and businesses have to abide by such laws and individuals can work for the companies and businesses to help them reach the target. The governments "Climate Action Plan" would help fund the idea: http://www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change
Where will these actions be taken?
The idea will probably work for every state except Alaska since it is so cold..
How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?
There is enough road surface area to power the nation in this manner.
What are other key benefits?
The biggest outcome would be no more fossil fuel GHG's being burned. Less thermal stress on roadways would mean less cracking and not as many pot holes forming.
What are the proposal’s costs?
This depends on how many we want to make. Build a few at first and the profits build the others. Each system may cost 2 or 3 million dollars at first but the more we make with the profits they should become cheaper.
Time line
If mass produced 5-15 years should do the trick.
Related proposals
Most of my proposals use this closed loop Rankine Cycle engine. Click on the Cyclonebuster link below to view my other proposals:
https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/member/-/member/userId/1005099
References
Couldn't find any.
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