|
| Energy harvesting technology for pavements | Energy conversion method | Energy conversion efficiency | Advantage | Disadvantage | Application to pavements | Technology development maturity |
|
| Solar energy harvesting | Solar energy to electric/thermal energy | Medium–high | (i) High energy conversion rate | (i) Weather limited | (i) Pavement health monitoring | High |
| (ii) Abundant resources | (ii) Powering traffic lights and signals |
| (iii) Pavement deicing |
|
| Piezoelectric energy harvesting | Mechanical energy to electric energy | Low–medium | (i) Energy harvesting in many designs | (i) Relatively low energy conversion efficiency | (i) Pavement health monitoring | Medium |
| (ii) Power traffic lights and signals |
|
| Thermoelectric energy harvesting | Thermal energy to electric energy | Low | (i) Flexible applicability | (i) Low efficiency | (i) Power traffic lights and signals | Low |
| (ii) High unit cost |
|
| Geothermal energy harvesting | Geothermal energy to electric energy | High | (i) High energy conversion rate | (i) Geologically limited | (i) Pavement deicing | High |
| (ii) Abundant resources | (ii) Technical challenging | (ii) Cooling pavement |
| (iii) Geothermal electricity production |
|
