I found the next addition Penn State needs to make to their campus.
According to an article from gizmag.com, the British company Pro-Teq just came out with a new technology called the “Star Path” that not only looks magical, but could revolutionize how we light up our world at night.
Star Path is a ” water-resistant, spray-on coating that absorbs UV light during the day and releases it at night”. The particles are able to tell how much light they should emit based on the light around them, similar to bio luminescence.
Pro-Teq applies the star path with special spraying equipment. The begin the application with a “polyurethane base and aggregate (a rocky, sandy mixture that forms the new path-top) followed by the biolmuniscent material itself and a polyaspartic topcoat that seals the whole thing together”. What’s awesome is it doesn’t take long to apply – Pro-Teq did 1600 sq ft in 30 minutes. After that, the coating takes a little under four hours to dry, and voila, places have new pathways that look like regular pavements during the day and star paths at night.
The question to ask though is: how will this technology change our world as we know it?
The star path is an alternative to street lighting. It is very easy to apply, it harvests natural light, and glows comparable amounts to street lights but in a cheaper and more environmentally friendly way. It also has anti-slip properties and is none reflective.
Pro-Teq is testing it in Chris Piece’s park in Cambridge, but they have big plans for the star path. They have a vision for bike paths, walking paths, driveways, and eventually, as Digital Trends covered,, roadways and highways.
There is conversation about how this will work in the winter with less daylight time, but Pro-Teq is confident in their product. Their website, http://www.pro-teqsurfacing.com/, offers 11 different path colors and shows pictures of their work with star path so far.
This technology could also significantly help developing countries who don’t have a consistent power supply.
After learning about this new technology, I am most excited to see if it will catch on in the future. I think it should, especially in developing countries as an alternative to the inconsistent power. With the quick application and reusable energy benefits, I think we might see more of these paths in the future. Like Digital Trends, I too am crossing my fingers for glow-in-the-dark highways by 2014.
What do you guys think? Does this sound like a feasible technology that will catch on? Have you ever heard of something similar?
Wow this is neat! It reminds me of the glow in the dark stars kids use to put on their ceilings that get their glow from lights. The stars work because the material shoots out stored-up photons that the stars were exposed to (light) during the course of a day. As long as the glow-in-the-dark stars have photons stored, they will continue to give off light. When the material releases all the photons it has stored, it will need to be recharged. The Star Path probably works in the same way! You can read more details about how it works here: http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4922615_glow-dark-stars-work.html
WOW! THIS IS SO COOL!!!!! I don’t know how you do it, but your blogs are always about the coolest topics, I would really like to meet you in person and pick your brain because you seem like a cool person. Now lets get to the star path; I think that this product would be revolutionary if it could replace street lights all over the world because it would reduce the amount of electricity being used. The one question I have about this product is if it would be a distraction for drives or if it would disable drivers from seeing possible dangers ahead. Other than that I would also like to know how much this product costs so I can try and convince my mom to get the star path out our driveway.