Green Roadway Project could help Utah roads rev up renewable energy

A pair of inventors want to take the nation's highways and turn them into a source of green energy, with right-of-ways sporting solar panels, wind turbines and geothermal devices.

Those devices in turn, would "power" the communities along the way and help transform travel into something a little more guilt-free.

In Utah, all you need is $1 million to bid on the Green Roadway Project's licensing agreement to tap into the technology for possible use on up to 67,300 miles of roadways that traverse the Beehive State. Licensing agreements are up for grabs in all states via a sealed bid auction to be held Thursday. The minimum reserve starts out as low as $125,000 for some states and goes up to $1.5 million for exclusive rights to California roadways.

"It is all part of a future smart grid," said company spokesman Kelley Meyer, an environmental activist who also serves on the leadership council of the Natural Resource Defense Council. "The idea is to collect solar, wind and geothermal energy and use it for cars on the roadways. … The road could be a sort of collecting station that then segues into energy for nearby towns and communities."

Hard to imagine?

Meyer said to picture "charging" stations along the interstates and highways where transmission lines already exist. An all-electric car pulls into the station, does a quick charge and is on its way.

The two men behind the project, Gene Fein and Ed Merritt, have patents on the techniques to harness commercial quantities of these renewable sources of energy.

A look at the company's portfolio shows patent applications have been secured for systems and methods for creating vehicle infrastructures/ distribution platforms for solar energy gathering devices, small wind energy gathering devices and a process for using hydraulic turbines to generate electricity.

The company says it is the first of its kind to secure the roadways as a distribution point for alternative energy systems.

Utah transportation and energy officials are aware of the proposal and are watching with interest.

"It's an idea worth exploring," said Liz Cohen, the energy and climate policy coordinator in the governor's energy adviser group.

"Increasing renewable energy that is produced in Utah and used in Utah is consistent with the state's renewable energy goals."

Carlos Braceras, the state transportation department's deputy director, said tapping the nation's highways and interstates as a renewable energy grid is "an idea and concept that has been discussed for a year. … I can tell you this type of thing is being discussed by all of the states."