Energy Harvesting Collectors for Urban Road Pavement
The Enhance Europe project deals with the application of an energy harvesting system consisting of an asphalt solar collector applied to the road flexible pavement. Asphalt collectors are constituted by structures embedded inside the road pavement layers for the extraction of heat due to solar irradiation. Thanks to the heat conversion, renewable and easy-spendable energy can be generated for integrating the energy suppling plants of buildings along the roads.The project allows to reduce the surface temperature of road flexible pavement, creating a liveable urban area for city inhabitants, matching the urban planning regulations, and reducing the urban heat island phenomenon, especially in the summer season. System installation can be integrated in urban environment without affecting cultural heritage landscape. The project is relevant for clean energy integration in the built environment because it creates a solution for the reuse of the solar radiation collected by the transport infrastructures, generating local support to reach sustainability in the long term for the buildings and, in general, for the city. This project allows to reduce large buildings (malls, terminals, parking area, building services) energy uses and their (operational) costs, implementing the heat transfer from the pavement to the buildings. It contributes to open platforms for sharing the data and the models (digital twins) in support of the energy transition.