Intermediate's Debate Competition R1: US Gov should implement solar road highways within the US

Secondly, my absolute sincerest apologies. I feel the quality and length of this round could have been much better. We are in the midst of moving and whatever I managed to get to in between packing/unpacking boxes is written below. Thus, the content is very simple, and limited (particularly the environmental benefits which I didn't have time to get into as much as I would have preferred. ) Hopefully the coming days will be a little less hectic and once again, my apologies. I hope the simplicity of the first round can be pardoned and apologize if it is an inconvenience. Let's get started. I will be debating in favor of the implementation of solar road highways within the US. First, a brief explanation of what a solar roadway would entail: A solar roadway is a road surface that generates electricity by solar power photovoltaics. [1] The idea, according to the company Solar Roadways, is to replace existing asphalt roads, highways, parking lots, and driveways with solar road panels. Each panel, 12'*12', would consist of three layers. The top layer is the road surface, the middle layer (also known as the electronics layer) contains the microprocessor board, and the base plate layer distributes the power collected. Both the top and bottom layers are weatherproof in order to protect the electronic pieces between them. Contention 1: Safety The solar road panels provide many benefits, one being increased safety on the roads. The surface layer of the roadways will be textured in such a way that it increases traction, allowing tires to grip the surface with more durability. [2] In addition, LED lights will be included within the surface layer, designed to light up roads at night and create electronic highway signals, alerting drivers of weather conditions or any interferences on the road. [3] The solar roads also contain a heating element, that could warm up in cold weather to melt snow and ice, preventing cities form shutting down during bad weather, such as heavy snowstorms. [1] [4] Such implementation could go a long way in preventing accidents, and increasing overall security for drivers and pedestrians alike. Contention 2: Economy Being of renewable energy, solar roadways are generally self-maintained and will ultimately end up paying for the cost of production and repairs of the panels. The amount of energy gathered and stored would provide excess electricity that could be sold, thus becoming self sufficient. [3] Another benefit to the economy involves employment. New jobs would be created in the manufacturing of panels. The Solar Roadways website [5] estimates that in regards to panel production alone, the implementation of these highways could result in 2.5 million full time jobs for at least a ten year period. Contention 3: Environmental Benefits Solar energy has obvious benefits on the environment, and such a large scale operation offers a wide range of benefits as well. The most obvious among them is eliminating the necessity of releasing CO2 into the atmosphere in order to produce electricity. Another, less conventional, idea involves the increasing production of electric cars. Though currently electronic cars have a relatively short range and must be recharged often, the implementation of solar roadways could eliminate that. Owners of EV's can plug their cars into solar road panels and recharge them at rest stops . Engineers are currently evaluating the possibility of charging cars as they drive. The increased use of EV's and solar road highways could theoretically eliminate the need for oil as an energy source. [6] Contention 4: Convenience There are several reasons why the utilization of solar road panels are convenient. 1) Durability. [1] The life span of these panels are estimated to be about 30-40 years, about three times the life span of current asphalt roads (7-12 years). 2) Panels can be built upon the roadways that are already in place. [1] The current roadways can be used, destroying them to put the solar panels in place is not necessary. I'm running against the deadline here with five minutes to post. So, a quick spell check and up it goes. Looking forward to Con's arguments. [1] en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Solar_roadway [2] . http://www.energydigital.com... [3] . http://www.smartcity-magazine.com... [4] . http://www.solarroadways.com... [5] . http://www.solarroadways.com... [6] . http://www.solarroadways.com...