source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/viljur6c6U4/solar-roadways-profile-2014-5
There are approximately 31,251 square miles of roads, parking lots, driveways, playgrounds, bike paths, and sidewalks in the lower 48 states.
If Julie and Scott Brusaw have their way, they will all someday be replaced with solar panels.
For the better part of a decade, the Idaho couple have been working on prototyping an industrial-strength panel that could withstand the weight of even the largest trucks.
They now appear to have cracked the formula, developing a specially textured glass coating for the panels that can not only bear tremendous loads but can support standard tire traction.
By their reckoning, at peak installation, their panel-ized roads could produce more than 3x the electricity currently consumed in the U.S.
The material could also be able to power electric vehicles, through a a "receiver" plate mounted beneath the EV and a "transmitter" plate is installed in the road.