I once heard that some companies were doing research on using hot asphalt to generate electricity (by having underground water pipes that move a turbine). As of now, has any company successfully made such a system?
Could you please list a reliable academic source?
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nope, good on theory.
Solar power involves converting light to electricty, you`re talking about thermal power.
There are apparently some working prototypes, but apparently no products are commercially available at this time.
Asphalt doesn’t get hot enough to turn the water into steam to spin a turbine, however the heat could be used in other ways i’m sure (like heating the building) or other ways to use that energy to generate electricity that i dont know of. There have been ideas to use piezoelectricity to create electricity with the movement of cars over the lots, however. and popular science just had an online article online about photovoltaic cells embedded into the parking lot.
In Death Valley, the ground can get hot enough to boil water, but in general, to get steam temperatures, you need insulation and something to cut off airflow. Concentrated sunlight doesn’t hurt, either.
That’s a clever idea, using asphalt that’s going to get hot, anyway. It might make an economical water heater in a place like Hawaii or Florida. The downside in other places is that the asphalt won’t get very hot all year round, whereas a water heating panel with glass could function even with freezing air temperatures.