Power Road, the Positive Energy Road.

The Film

« And if it were the road that heated your city? »

To heat or cool the streets and buildings of cities using a new clean, renewable energy source, Eurovia has invented Power Road®, the positive energy road that adds new functionality to the road without changing its initial purpose: mobility.

Power Road® press release

Eurovia innovation

With Power Road®, Eurovia has devised a new function for roads, namely, the production of heat energy. This development allows roads to capture the sun’s heat energy, which can be stored and distributed to nearby buildings and infrastructure through a heat-pump system.

Energy produced in this way can heat residential and office buildings, shopping complexes, eco-neighbourhoods, and public structures such as swimming pools while enhancing their energy mix. In winter, this energy may also be used to remove snow and ice from roads and airport runways, thereby reducing the need for salting operations. In summer, above-ground heat capture can cool roads and, as a result, lessen the effects of urban heat islands.

Power Road® marks a major milestone in Eurovia’s innovation policy. With Power Road®, the road, without deviating from its primary use, can play a new role in the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Implementation of a heat exchanger in the roadway.
Implementation of a surface course on the exchanger.

Uses

Airports

By modulating the surface temperature, Power Road® clears snow and ice from taxiways and parking areas at airports. This helps ensure a smooth flow of traffic despite the winter conditions and the preservation of infrastructures during extreme temperature fluctuations.

4 years

Episodes of extreme cold spells occur on average every four years; the last one in France dates back to 2012

+ 10 M€

in annual expenses per international airport for de-icing (products, storage, machine park, personnel).

20 cm

The snow accumulation level that Power Road® can melt in a day.

Eco-Neighbourhood

An eco-neighbourhood (housing units, offices, businesses) uses a warm water loop for its heating, domestic hot water and air-conditioning needs. Different energy sources are pooled to supply this warm water loop. Power Road® can become a major contributor throughout the year.

500

eco-neighbourhoods in France expected in 2018

30%

of the heating needs for an eco-neighbourhood of 75,000 m² covered by 5 km of Power Road®-equipped roadway

25 m2

of Power Road® allows to capture the equivalent of the heating needs of a 70-m² housing unit over a year.

Pool

Power Road® contributes to the energy mix to heat the water in municipal pools. Currently, 40% of the energy consumption of sports equipment is absorbed by pools. Implementing the Power Road® system in an adjacent parking lot allows to cover approximately 1/3 of the heating requirements of a pool.

40%

of energy consumption of sports equipment is used for pools.

33%

Power Road® can contribute to the energy mix by covering 1/3 of the heating needs of a municipal pool.

3 000 m2

of Power Road® covers 33% of the heating requirements of a 25-m pool.

Urban Centres

Power Road® allows the road to regulate its surface temperature. In the winter, Power Road® clears snow from the roads. In the summer, Power Road® helps mitigate the effects of heat islands by capturing the heat from the pavement.

2

The number of probes installed 30 m deep to clear the snow from a parking space

+ 8°C

Increase in temperature in certain cities between now and 2100.

100 M€

Air-conditioning costs due to the effects of urban heat islands in certain megacities.

Business Centres

Power Road® distributes clean, sustainable thermal energy to shopping centres, by providing thermal regulation; the energy captured in the carparks is used to heat these shopping centres. Conversely, Power Road® allows to recover the thermal energy released by the cold network by storing, and then restoring this energy during the winter, for example, to clear snow.

75%

Which represents the carpark lot of a shopping centre in relation to its commercial space

500

The number of parking spaces that Power Road® can clear snow by recovering heat generated by the air-conditioning systems (for a superstore with 18,000 m² of commercial space).

Land Subdivisions

Up to 100% of the heating needs of housing units within a land subdivision can be covered by equipping the roadway and parking spaces with Power Road®.

70%

of the energy consumption of residential buildings is allocated for heating.

100%

of the requirements for heating are covered by Power Road® for a land subdivision when road networks and parking spaces are equipped with Power Road®.

25 m²

of Power Road®-equipped pavement captures the equivalent of all thermal energy needs of a household for an entire year.

Operations

Pool Heating

In the summer, Power Road® captures the thermal energy from the sun’s rays on the pavement. Then, Power Road® can transfer this heat using a heat pump to the facilities, such as a municipal pool.

Heat Island Reduction

By capturing the sun’s energy, Power Road® can cool the upper layers of the asphalt. A consequence of this pavement cooling is to mitigate the effects of urban heat islands (UHI); Power Road® prevents heat from accumulating in the roadway by capturing and storing it.

Snow Removal

The energy stored in the probes and redistributed in the exchangers can be used in winter to melt snow and ice on roads, carparks, airport runways, etc.

Building Heating

The stored energy can be used to meet the building heating requirements.

Last News

Pontarlier: Snow Removal from a School Parking Lot Using Heat Recovered from Household Waste

Saint-Arnoult Demonstrator

Winner of the “Future Road” Call for Projects and a New Test Phase

Pontarlier: Snow Removal from a School Parking Lot Using Heat Recovered from Household Waste

Saint-Arnoult Demonstrator

Winner of the “Future Road” Call for Projects and a New Test Phase

As a local partner, Eurovia designs mobility solutions to improve economic competitiveness and strengthen the social bond by designing, constructing and maintaining transport infrastructures and urban development.

Eurovia offers an integrated set of expertise and know-how in four areas: transport infrastructure and urban development, quarries, industrial production, maintenance and services.

For more information