Storing the sun’s energy underground could help keep Canada’s roads ice-free in the winter months as a safer and cheaper alternative to plows and salt.
I work in road construction. I could maybe see this being feasible in highly localized critical areas, but this kind of road method can’t become commonplace. Canada just has too many roads.
Maybe a bridge along the DVP in Toronto that always has bad ice accidents, or a major bike arterial path, but the numbers don’t make sense for anywhere else. If a road/bridge is truly that bad for accidents, the Municipality is likely cheaper to redesign the approach/descent angles or change the speed limit rather than try this.
I note they don’t talk about how much road a 50 or 60 ton system would be able to serve, compared to the Vancouver budget, or what maintenance costs are on a system that size. The article they link to discussing the system costs is specifically looking at the costs of a BTES system for buildings/complexs.
I work in road construction. I could maybe see this being feasible in highly localized critical areas, but this kind of road method can’t become commonplace. Canada just has too many roads.
Maybe a bridge along the DVP in Toronto that always has bad ice accidents, or a major bike arterial path, but the numbers don’t make sense for anywhere else. If a road/bridge is truly that bad for accidents, the Municipality is likely cheaper to redesign the approach/descent angles or change the speed limit rather than try this.
I note they don’t talk about how much road a 50 or 60 ton system would be able to serve, compared to the Vancouver budget, or what maintenance costs are on a system that size. The article they link to discussing the system costs is specifically looking at the costs of a BTES system for buildings/complexs.