Harnessing energy from highways - Submission to the Wolfson Economics Prize 2017

Williams, David

Abstract

This paper was awarded A Lightbulb Prize for Innovation in the Wolfson Economics Prize 2017.

This essay is designed to provide an alternative way of thinking about our road network and looks at a novel way of generating income through harnessing the forces that it is subjected to every day: solar radiation, wind, the movement of water and kinetic energy. This approach is timely because local authorities, the guardians of the road network, are facing the dual pressures of both a reduction in funding from central government and an increase in the number of elderly people requiring social care. Both of these factors are squeezing the money available to maintain our road network. The UK is also at present heavily dependent on imports of energy and fuel and with the uncertainty of the UK’s markets due to Brexit and the pressures on the World Trade Organisation terms there is a need to ensure that the country becomes more self-sufficient when it comes to producing energy.

The solution discussed in this essay provides the UK with the means of generating a new source of funding for highway maintenance, which will help to improve the quality of the network, improve safety by reducing damage to the surfaces. It will make the network more reliable by reducing the impact of hot and cold weather incidents on the road surface, allowing road users to travel as they normally would. The scheme will also help reduce the carbon dioxide emissions associated with energy production and enable the country to become more self-sufficient in energy production.

At present the cost and payback period for developing and installing each of the technologies is prohibitive, due to the relatively low levels of energy produced by each. What this essay proposes is that a Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) is developed that gathers energy from multiple sources in terms of the forces that the highway network are exposed to. This approach would provide a significant level of energy and finance for local authorities to invest in enhancing the road network for the benefit of road users and the wider public.

The challenges to this approach are that at present much of the technology is at a prototype phase, so it is suggested that through government intervention and funding a set of trials can be created to develop the technology and then trial it across the country. Once the market is created for the technology and supported by the government this will improve the level of funding invested by private organisations. The government can retain a percentage of the patent with all of the parties so that the technology can be sold worldwide.

As part of the trial stage the government will need to develop frameworks between local authorities, energy companies, universities and technology companies so that they can come together in consortiums to design and deliver the HRES systems. The roll out of this technology would also require cross-party support and legislation, as the roll out period is likely to take several decades.
The money generated through the sale of electricity on the open market would then be distributed between the consortium members, with a commitment that local authorities invest their profits back into highway maintenance and other key services.

This approach provides a new revenue source for highway maintenance that will improve the flow of traffic by reducing the decay of the road infrastructure. This novel approach could provide significant benefits to the environment and enables the arteries of the economy to stay open for business.

Citation

Williams, D. Harnessing energy from highways - Submission to the Wolfson Economics Prize 2017

• Other Type: Other
• Deposit Date: May 25, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: May 25, 2017
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: green energy, hybrid renewable energy systems, highway maintenance, highway funding
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/890311