Use of Asphalt Paved Surfaces For Solar Heat

vg30e writes "It seems that a company in the Netherlands has found a way to use asphalt paved surfaces as solar heat collectors. Flexible tubes under the surface of the road collect heat from asphalt pavement using water as the working liquid. The heated water is stored underground for later use in defrosting the road, or heating buildings. With all the miles of highway in the continental US, this might be a viable way of collecting massive amounts of thermal energy."

Comments

Re:Cement

[dltaylor]

It snows in El Paso in January/February, and in Amarillo more than that. Texas is a hell of a lot bigger than Austin, or whatever small part of it you're familiar with. Even in the winter, the road surface is usually enough warmer than the snow-covered ground to provide some useful energy.

There's another source of heat in addition to the solar input. Passing vehicles emit heat from the exhaust (including the catalytic converters) and there's heat built up from the mechanical stresses, 'specially the "big rigs".