Get the latest tech news

South Korean 30km solar 'bike highway' generates electricity


A ‘bike highway’ running between Daejon and Sejong in South Korea is a sight – or rather, a concept – you surely haven’t thought of before: it stretches for 32km, and it not only shields cyclists from the sun but also generates power at the same time. It’s true that a bicycle lane in the centre of a highway is an unusual location for one, especially with three lanes of traffic on either side of it, yet it works. The image shows a highway with a row of solar panels traveling down the median, and underneath them, a protected bike lane. Protecting and encouraging bike travel while gathering clean energy at the same time? Sounds like a win for everybody. In 2022, South Korea announced plans for a clean energy future that involve converting its current usage of renewable energy sources from 15%, where usage stands now, to 40% by 2034. Although coal power accounts for 40% of the country’s total energy usage (as of August 2022), the South Korean government has undertaken several initiatives to bring that number down, including introducing a carbon tax, stopping financing of overseas coal plants, and building charging stations for electric vehicles. In addition, the capital city of Seoul has made a major push to ramp up the usage of solar panels. very neat and they estimated the solar panels could power about 500 homes.”

A ‘bike highway’ running between Daejon and Sejong in South Korea is a sight – or rather, a concept – you surely haven’t thought of before: it stretches for 32km, and it not only shields cyclists from the sun but also generates power at the same time. The image shows a highway with a row of solar panels traveling down the median, and underneath them, a protected bike lane. Although coal power accounts for 40% of the country’s total energy usage (as of August 2022), the South Korean government has undertaken several initiatives to bring that number down, including introducing a carbon tax, stopping financing of overseas coal plants, and building charging stations for electric vehicles.

Get the Android app

Or read this on r/technology

Read more on:

Photo of Electricity

Electricity

Photo of south korean

south korean

Photo of bike highway

bike highway

Related news:

News photo

Renewable grid: Recovering electricity from heat storage hits 44% efficiency

News photo

Recovering electricity from heat storage hits 44% efficiency

News photo

Making steel with electricity. MIT spinout Boston Metal is commercializing a new method for making steel and other metals, to help clean up the emissions-intensive industry.