Snow Technology Case Study

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Pages: 3

Problem 2- Snow Technology Method

Solar Roadways a company in Boise, Idaho is founded by inventors Scott Brusaw and Julie Brusaw. Their goal is to make snow removal obsolete therefore inventing technology in melting snow of "roads, driveways, parking lots, bike trails and, eventually, highways."(The Associated Press, 2014). According to The Associated Press(2014) of CBC news, Federal Highway Administration, handed over a project to the company in creating a "solar road panel prototype," with $850,000 and the company itself raised over $2.8 million dollars in making this technology. The solar panel road created by Brusaw "is made out of panels encased in strong and durable glass with the traction of asphalt [that] won't cause glare."(Yvkoff, 2011) The invention of the technology would make snow removal obsolete, creating low costs instead of a city paying "$1 million dollars per inch in snow removal."(Yvkoff, 2011)
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Brusaw says for every mile equivalent to 1.61 kilometres, it would roughly cost $4.4 million dollars. (Patterson, 2011). Without support from the public and federal government, it would be difficult to establish solar roads in the city. $4.4 million dollars is a large amount and would be difficult to collect. The city would need "10 billion solar panels, to cover 3 billion miles of roadway."(Yvkoff 2011). It brings up the issue of cost between a solar road versus snow removal in the city. According to Yvkoff (2011) of Cnet, the cost of snow removal in New York City is 1 million dollars per inch. That being said the cost is much greater in snow technology roads than compared to the traditional snow removal. If solar roadways are built, the cost to repair would be much greater than the cost to build