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Devon Bowers
Professor Richard Winter
Tech 1030-002
November 29, 2016

Technology has benefited man for a long time, and it continues to benefit us every day.
There are new technologies coming and are being implemented. In this community project I will
be exploring three complex systems within the community. The three systems I have chosen are:
Roads, electrical power grid, and water management.
Roads have been at the heart of every city in the world, probably because we designed
our cities around cars and trucks. The roads that will be built in the community should be
efficient and planned ahead. There are traditional ways to build a road with the usual asphalt or
concrete, technology is available that will help improve the roads in the community. In this first
section we will analyze different road technology.
Solar roads will help with the citys need for electricity and there will be enough solar
panels within the city to power the town. As the city expands the solar roads will follow
wherever the city is expanding. We wont have to invest into other forms of electric generation
(at least we hope we dont have to) that might cost more money to build and sustain, like nuclear
power or coal power plants. Solar panels dont require any fuel as long as the sun is still burning,
which will burn for a very long time.

(Belfiore 2014)
Solar panels are nothing new, but using them as a road surface is a new technology. There
are plans for solar roads and paths to be implemented in many different parts of the world,
including the United States and Europe. We have the tech to implement solar roads but will we
actually do it? As Michael Belfiore (2014) has said in Popular Mechanics there's strong popular
appeal for these kinds of new high-tech road technologies, and many of them already exist in
prototype form. A solar road will be able to help to do two things at once, the first to provide a
surface for cars and other vehicles and also provide electricity for the community. All roads in
the community town will be solar roads, except for certain areas that might pose a risk for
flooding or other damage to the road.
An article by Emilee Tombs (2016) titled Smart Roads: Bedrock of future transport,
Tombs goes into how solar roads will be beneficial to the world. She says that solar roads will
come with sensors, data capture capabilities, the ability to be responsive to changes in the
environment and, perhaps most importantly, be connected. Roads will talk to cars,
bicycles, traffic lights and even cities. Roads will be alive. Roads of the future will be able to
help recharge vehicles as they are traveling, which will be a groundbreaking feature for electric

cars. The problem with electric cars today is the recharge time, nobody wants to stop somewhere
and have to wait several hours to recharge. However with the ability to recharge while traveling,
you eliminate the need to stop at any time, except for personal needs like having to go to the
bathroom and also to eat. Solar Roadways just by themselves will be a huge step forward
towards a more efficient world.
The next part of the community that I am going to analyze is the electrical power grid.
This is essential because most man-made objects have some kind of electricity running through
it. Smart grid technology generally refers to a class of technology people are using to bring
utility electricity delivery systems into the 21st century, using computer-based remote control
and automation (energy.gov). Electricity doesnt need to be mass produced at maximum levels
all the time. We can regulate how much electricity needs to be generated based on the demand
coming from consumers.
The electrical power grid for the city must be efficient and well maintained, the source of
the electricity will be from the solar roads that will be placed in the city, large batteries will be
charged by the solar panels and they will be used for the night time hours. Power lines will be
buried starting at the source of power and will go to a substation. Power lines will be either
buried or hung from power poles depending on location. Power lines will be hung whenever they
are in a wide open area. Residential areas should have power lines buried but will depend on a
number of geographic factors like trees, hills, or tall buildings. The path electricity takes is
explained below.

(Gilpin 2014)
A new technology that is being implemented into the power grid is called the smart grid
technology. The key feature of the smart grid technology is the automation technology that lets
the utility adjust and control each individual device or millions of devices from a central
location (Energy.gov). In basic terms, the smart grid allows communication with equipment to
reduce electric consumption during peak periods of the day or week. With this technology in the
community we will be able to use electricity more efficiently, however, I believe that a secondary
power plant should be available in the case that solar panels arent able to produce enough
electricity or when peak periods are high.
The next area of analysis will be water management, which will entail water supply.
Water is very important and its the stuff we cant go without it. Supplying water to consumers
remains largely the same with pipes being buried underground with a water pump. I think the
best option is to receive drinking water from a reservoir, there are many benefits of having a
reservoir, such as irrigation, flood control, fishing and water sports. If having a reservoir is
difficult to produce or the terrain is not suitable for one, then perhaps we will rely on

underground aquifers or from nearby rivers. Below are some different ways for water supply
technology.
One interesting technology that could help with the community are water pipes fitted
with an electric turbine inside, a company called Lucid Energy has produced and installed such
pipes in Portland, Oregon (Slavin 2015). Except these pipes are only applied on gravity-fed pipes
or on certain sections where pipes are on a downhill slope.

(Daniels 2015)
They estimate a few turbines will bring in about $2,000,000 a year in renewable energy
over the next twenty years alone (Daniels 2015). These pipes will be impervious to weather
conditions and will produce electricity three to four times more cheaply because water flows
around the clock and at a constant rate (Slavin 2015). I think this will help with the community
if we dont have any hydroelectric dams, but if the community has a water main going downhill
gravity-fed pipes then this technology will be beneficial to the community.

As communities and cities grow there will be a larger need for better technology, I
believe that any one of these great inventions I have listed will be able to help with a town or
city. I look forward to seeing the day where some of this technology is implemented here in Salt
Lake.

References
Belfiore, M. (June 11, 2014). We Could Build a Solar-Powered Roadway. But Will We? Popular
Mechanics. Retrieved from
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a10730/we-could-build-asolar-powered-roadway-but-will-we-16879565/
Brain, M. (No Publication Date). How Power Grids Work. Retrieved from
http://www.science.smith.edu/~jcardell/Courses/EGR220/ElecPwr_HSW.html
Daniels, J. (10 Jun 2015). Utilities look to turn their water pipes into hydropower. CNBC.
Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/10/utilities-look-to-turn-their-water-pipesinto-hydropower.html
Energy.gov. (No publication date). Smart Grid. The Department of Energy. Retrieved from
http://energy.gov/oe/services/technology-development/smart-grid
Gilpin, L. (August 27, 2014). 10 Facts about the smart grid: ITs role in unlocking clean energy.
Tech Republic. Retrieved from http://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-facts-about-thesmart-grid-its-role-in-unlocking-clean-energy/#postComments
Slavin, T. (18 September 2015). From Oregon to Johannesburg, micro-hydro offers solution to
drought hit cities. The Guardian. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/sep/18/portland-oregon-droughtmicrohydro-electricity-from-water-pipes-lucid-energy-california
Tombs, E. (19/08/2016). Smart roads: Bedrock of future transport. InMotion. Retrieved from
https://www.inmotionventures.com/smart-roads-future-transport/