Recent Developments in the Energy Harvesting Systems from Road Infrastructures

Abstract

The rapid increase in energy demand has resulted in more dependence on fossil fuels, which leads to higher CO2 emissions every year. To overcome this problem, shifting from fossil fuel-based energy resources to renewable and sustainable ones is essential. One of the new research areas developed in this context is the harvesting of energy from urban infrastructures and, in particular, roads. A large amount of energy in the form of heat or kinetic energy is wasted annually on roads. Recovering these local forms of energy as electricity would improve the energy efficiency of cities. In this review paper, recent developments in the field of energy recovery from roads using solar panels, piezoelectric, thermoelectric and electromagnetic harvesters are discussed along with their efficiency, cost and field implementation. Moreover, new advancements in developing compatible energy storage systems are also discussed and summarised. Based on the review, although all of these systems have the potential of recovering at least a part of the wasted energy, only one of them (the electromagnetic converters) is capable of generating a considerable energy level. In addition, based on the evaluation of the maturity of the technologies, and their cost analyses, more studies are required in order to fill the gap between the current state of the technologies and their full operational form.

Review of Energy Harvesting for Buildings Based on Solar Energy and Thermal Materials

“…With a 1 km long and 10 m wide road, 160 kWh of energy was generated in 8 h of exposure to the sun [63]. Another author also uses TEG to acquire solar energy from the pavement using the temperature difference of the pavement surface and of a lower part of the structure where there was an aluminum bar, obtaining a temperature difference of 20 • C between the materials, thus being sufficient to power an LED light [64]. Furthermore, a thermoelectric system is used on the surface of the pavement and on the ground below the pavement to obtain energy also from the temperature difference [64].…”

“…Another author also uses TEG to acquire solar energy from the pavement using the temperature difference of the pavement surface and of a lower part of the structure where there was an aluminum bar, obtaining a temperature difference of 20 • C between the materials, thus being sufficient to power an LED light [64]. Furthermore, a thermoelectric system is used on the surface of the pavement and on the ground below the pavement to obtain energy also from the temperature difference [64]. In South Texas, this method was tested using the real dimensions of the highway (10 m wide and 1 km long), and an average of 23.2 kWh of electricity was obtained [65].…”

Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting from Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Alkali-Activated Nanocomposites Produced from Industrial Waste Materials

“…One of these upcoming applications is energy harvesting. Considering the massive use of construction materials in urban and industrial areas, waste heat produced in these environments can be captured and converted into electrical energy by using thermoelectric materials and generators [ 31 , 32 ]. According to the literature, cementitious composites can present thermoelectric properties after modification by carbon or metallic-oxide nanoparticles [ 33 , 34 ].…”

“…The Seebeck coefficient can be obtained from the negative ratio of these gradients (voltage to temperature) that will be negative for electron carriers or n-type materials, and positive for hole carriers or p-type materials. The product of the Seebeck coefficient squared and electrical conductivity will yield the power factor [ 31 , 32 , 37 ]. For a large-scale development, thermoelectric blocks, i.e., thermoelements, can be appropriately interconnected to constitute a generator device.…”

Effects of Compression Ratio of Bio-Fueled SI Engines on the Thermal Balance and Waste Heat Recovery Potential

“…The demand for fossil fuels has increased overwhelmingly in the transportation industry in the last decades. This has worsened environmental issues such as air quality degradation and global warming [1,2]. During recent years, different solutions such as using alternative fuels including biofuels have been considered for conventional vehicles in order to reduce the emissions of fossil fuels [3][4][5][6].…”