A Study on the Development of Green Road System for Heat Energy Harvesting

According to adverse effects of ecosystems due to a bulk of fossil fuel consumption, utilization of sustainable and renewable energy is required. In this paper, converting the energy crisis into an opportunity of new growth is expected by converting heat energy in asphalt pavement into electric power using thermoelectric effect. For this, experiments of inserting heat collector pipe and thermoelectric element into asphalt were performed, and the electric power of heat energy harvesting was measured for development of efficient harvesting system of heat energy. As the results of experiments, electric conversion of average 19.86W per day is possible at conversion area at a depth of 5cm, and possibility of this system was confirmed. Consequently, a systematic "Green Road" using sustainable heat energy source in asphalt pavement simultaneously with environmental maintenance and econovic growth was suggested.