I’ve been trying to get this idea into the hands of someone who can do something about it. My contribution to help the US move toward a renewable energy future. Over 15 years ago I started thinking and talking with friends about this concept. I was sure either someone else would come up with the same idea or I would read why this wouldn’t be possible. Now that we have an Administration that might actually consider this proposal, I thought it was time to publish it. What if we had 47,000+ miles of land upon which we could string solar panels and wind turbines across every state in the US while at the same time creating a national smart grid? Most of us have seen this land. It is called the Interstate Highway System. We have all driven on these highways as they crisscross the US North/South and East/West. The medians on many of these highways are fairly wide, approximately 50 feet (some less, some more). Add solar panels to the median of these highways and we would have a new smart grid connected across the US touching every state. We would also place wind turbines wherever they make sense. No need for stealing land through eminent domain. No need for zoning permission. Lots of NIMBY surrounding Solar and Wind Power. Noise from the highway is already a factor of life for those who live close by to it. But even then, we could position the wind turbines in less densely populated areas as there are long stretches of highway with few houses nearby. Of course, we would determine the best spots to place these based on wind patterns. But we do not need to only use propeller type Wind Turbines. There are two other types that are far less dangerous to birds, less noisy, and turn in just about any kind of wind from any direction, though not as powerful in generating energy. They are called Savonius rotors and Darrieus rotors. These are vertical rather than horizontal like wind turbines. They could be placed along the shoulders of all the roads like telephone or powerline poles; their numbers making up for the reduced power. If you’ve ever stood on the side of a highway with tractor trailers flying by at 70 miles an hour, you know how powerful this wind is. This, and that from cars, is lost energy as it is caused by the truck or car having to push through the resistance of the air. We can recover some of this lost energy by capturing it with wind thus increasing the fuel efficiency of these vehicles. http://netzeroguide.com/savonius-wind-turbine/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrieus_wind_turbine While we’re at it, we can place electric vehicle charging stations at specific intervals along the highways to help speed up the switch over to electric cars and trucks. The electricity would be produced right along the highway. Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time. We should be committing the urgency we had in World War II in defeating the forces of fascism in the same way. During World War II, from 1940 to 1945, the US built 300,000 new airplanes, most with multiple propellers. The mighty B52’s among them boasted four very large propellers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_aircraft_production_during_World_War_II What is a propeller but a wind turbine? Just a couple of years ago, GM layed off 14,000 people and closed numerous manufacturing plants. What if we retrained those workers and retooled those plants to become wind turbine and solar panel production centers? All the fossil fuel employees that will be affected by the transition to renewable energy could be trained as well. Laid off workers would not only learn to manufacture wind turbines and solar panels, but some would also be trained to install them. This would help save jobs and help reduce carbon emissions as we switch to renewable power and increase exports as we become a leading producer of wind turbines and solar panels. We could make this a public - private endeavor (though I’m in favor of public utilities). The government supplies funds to train the workers and low interest loans to retool manufacturing facilities. Private companies would pay for the development and construction then sell the energy. The public sector would allow the use of the interstates and lease the land while also taxing profits. Wind turbines and solar panels would be required to be purchased from American companies. We all win. Once construction is completed, which will take years and employ thousands, manufacturers would continue to sell products domestically and through export. Departments of Transportation in all states would have continuing employment for people to maintain and service all the wind turbines and solar panels on the highways. My back of the napkin estimate, knowing far less than I should, says this strategy may be able to provide a quarter to a third of all electricity needed in the US. US daily electricity usage is 106,849,315kWh (2019). Solar panels 6ft high 48ft wide 6ft apart across 47,000 miles would produce 20,680,000kWh. Wind Turbines one mile apart for 47,000 miles would produce 7,050,000kWh. Darrius rotors spaced 100ft apart across 47,000 miles would produce 5,000,00kWh. This totals 32,730,000 or 30% of total US electricity usage. All very conservative estimates. All along the highway, there would be whatever excess storage facility that makes sense for an area. Batteries for some, molten salt for others, raising huge bricks to drop when power is needed, water shifting to higher terrain, twisting cables, and others not yet thought of so no energy is lost and will always be available. Because this is a national grid, power would be shared across states, so when the sun isn’t shining in one area, it uses the sun from another. If the wind isn’t blowing here, not there? It is shared. When the west coast is still fast asleep, the east coast will be rising with the sun already producing energy and as the sun goes down on the east coast, the west will still have sunlight. Does this seem far-fetched? We need to think big, like the highway system itself, the moon shot, 300,000 planes built to defeat fascism. Someone must have thought about this before and maybe there is a reason it cannot be done. But, I wanted to suggest it now that we're investing in the future of America again.