Gallery: Clear Solar Panels Double as Highway Sound Barriers
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Right now, along the A2 Highway near Den Bosch in The Netherlands, a chemical engineer has installed roadside noise barriers that double as solar panels. These renderings imagine the new technology implemented at scale.
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The actual test panels.
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The test panels use a new kind of renewable energy technology called luminescent solar concentrators. These panels look more like a stained-glass window pane than a sleeping computer screen.
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Because the panels are essentially sheets of colored plastic that can capture diffuse lightwaves, they also work in cloudy and dark environments.
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The screens pair the new LSC panels with traditional silicon solar cells, so the research team can compare results once the year of testing is complete.
