Green Boulevards - International Online Competition
project 19 of 70
HONOURABLE MENTION
MiniLab
page 1 (page 2)
marco giovannone (italy), edoardo borgia (italy), federico daffara (italy)
MiniLab
Energy from water
The project is based on the idea of utilizing abandoned land inside existing highway junctions to build a network of solar ponds (salted water artificial lakes, with salinity increasing with depth) to produce electrical energy. We observed there are 29 highway junctions between Rome and Salerno, about 20.000 m2 of area each. We estimated for each solar pond a production of about 750.000 kWh/y of thermal energy, or about 150.000 kWh/y of electricity. As a result the overall network of solar ponds along the highway from Rome to Salerno will be able to generate about 4.5 MWh/y of electrical energy. Furthermore each solar pond will serve as a humid area, increasing biodiversity along the highway and creating an ideal habitat for flora and fauna (birds, migrant birds, etc.).