A ‘bike highway’ running between Daejon and Sejong in South Korea is a sight – or rather, a concept – you surely haven’t thought of before: it stretches for 32km, and it not only shields cyclists from the sun but also generates power at the same time.
It’s true that a bicycle lane in the centre of a highway is an unusual location for one, especially with three lanes of traffic on either side of it, yet it works.
The image shows a highway with a row of solar panels traveling down the median, and underneath them, a protected bike lane. Protecting and encouraging bike travel while gathering clean energy at the same time? Sounds like a win for everybody.
In 2022, South Korea announced plans for a clean energy future that involve converting its current usage of renewable energy sources from 15%, where usage stands now, to 40% by 2034.
Although coal power accounts for 40% of the country’s total energy usage (as of August 2022), the South Korean government has undertaken several initiatives to bring that number down, including introducing a carbon tax, stopping financing of overseas coal plants, and building charging stations for electric vehicles.
In addition, the capital city of Seoul has made a major push to ramp up the usage of solar panels.
very neat and they estimated the solar panels could power about 500 homes.”
