Renewable Energy from Roads and People
Hot Asphalt (1/7)
Asphalt absorbs sunlight and turns it into heat. During a hot summer it can reach over 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius). This is one of the main reasons for the urban heat island effect.
Even after sunset, the asphalt continues to give off heat, forcing people to run air conditioning at night. Harvesting this heat could help cool roads and produce energy. (Photo: Reuters)
Image 1 of 7
Hot Asphalt (1/7)
Asphalt absorbs sunlight and turns it into heat. During a hot summer it can reach over 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius). This is one of the main reasons for the urban heat island effect.
Even after sunset, the asphalt continues to give off heat, forcing people to run air conditioning at night. Harvesting this heat could help cool roads and produce energy. (Photo: Reuters)
Renewable Energy from Roads and People
Potential Sites (2/7)
The picture shows the Inchon airport in South Korea. Huge tarmac covered airfields or parking lots are ideal for road energy systems. A 400-square-meter parking lot can produce enough energy to heat a 1,500-square-meter office building. (Photo: Reuters)
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Potential Sites (2/7)
The picture shows the Inchon airport in South Korea. Huge tarmac covered airfields or parking lots are ideal for road energy systems. A 400-square-meter parking lot can produce enough energy to heat a 1,500-square-meter office building. (Photo: Reuters)
Renewable Energy from Roads and People
Road Energy Systems (3/7)
Dutch building company Ooms uses a series of connected water pipes embedded in the asphalt to harvest the heat from streets. The picture shows a highway near Rotterdam, Netherlands, where water cables are laid underneath a sheet of asphalt. (Photo: Ooms Avenhorn Holding)
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Road Energy Systems (3/7)
Dutch building company Ooms uses a series of connected water pipes embedded in the asphalt to harvest the heat from streets. The picture shows a highway near Rotterdam, Netherlands, where water cables are laid underneath a sheet of asphalt. (Photo: Ooms Avenhorn Holding)
Renewable Energy from Roads and People
Road Energy System II (4/7)
The technology works like a geothermal heat pump, but instead of being installed in the Earth's soil, the water pipes are rooted in or underneath the asphalt. The hot water is later pumped into an underground aquifer where heat exchangers extract the energy from the circulating water before it returns to the surface. The aquifer stores the heat. During colder days, it is pumped into a building or back in the asphalt to prevent the road from icing up. (Photo: Ooms Avenhorn Holding)
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Road Energy System II (4/7)
The technology works like a geothermal heat pump, but instead of being installed in the Earth's soil, the water pipes are rooted in or underneath the asphalt. The hot water is later pumped into an underground aquifer where heat exchangers extract the energy from the circulating water before it returns to the surface. The aquifer stores the heat. During colder days, it is pumped into a building or back in the asphalt to prevent the road from icing up. (Photo: Ooms Avenhorn Holding)
Renewable Energy from Roads and People
Using Body Heat (5/7)
Big cities like Tokyo host another underdeveloped source of energy: human beings. With human body temperature at about 98 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius), every human being is a walking radiator. In many places, this energy is already being used indirectly. The largest shopping mall in the world, the Mall of America in Minnesota, does not have a central heating system. Tens of thousands of shoppers help maintain warm temperatures, even in freezing winters. (Photo: Miki Yokoyama)
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Using Body Heat (5/7)
Big cities like Tokyo host another underdeveloped source of energy: human beings. With human body temperature at about 98 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius), every human being is a walking radiator. In many places, this energy is already being used indirectly. The largest shopping mall in the world, the Mall of America in Minnesota, does not have a central heating system. Tens of thousands of shoppers help maintain warm temperatures, even in freezing winters. (Photo: Miki Yokoyama)
Renewable Energy from Roads and People
Using Body Heat II (6/7)
About 250,000 people use Stockholm Central Station each day. They give off enough heat to raise the temperature of the cavernous building to a constant 22-25 degrees Celsius (71-77 degrees Fahrenheit).
The station has to use power to cool the air. A new system developed by a Swedish property developer extracts the excess body heat through heat exchangers in a ventilation system that replaces the conventional air conditioning system. (Photo: Tage Olsin, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)
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Using Body Heat II (6/7)
About 250,000 people use Stockholm Central Station each day. They give off enough heat to raise the temperature of the cavernous building to a constant 22-25 degrees Celsius (71-77 degrees Fahrenheit).
The station has to use power to cool the air. A new system developed by a Swedish property developer extracts the excess body heat through heat exchangers in a ventilation system that replaces the conventional air conditioning system. (Photo: Tage Olsin, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)
Renewable Energy from Roads and People
Using Body Heat III (7/7)
The heat from Stockholm Central Station will later heat water that is piped to the Kungsbrohuset, a 40,000 square-meter complex currently under construction.
This picture shows an artist's impression of the completed building. The complex will be able to source about 30 percent of its heating from Stockholm Central Station. The system will cost an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Euros. (Photo: Jernhusen)
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Using Body Heat III (7/7)
The heat from Stockholm Central Station will later heat water that is piped to the Kungsbrohuset, a 40,000 square-meter complex currently under construction.
This picture shows an artist's impression of the completed building. The complex will be able to source about 30 percent of its heating from Stockholm Central Station. The system will cost an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Euros. (Photo: Jernhusen)
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