sustainability Article Harvesting Solar Energy from Asphalt Pavement Md Fahim Tanvir Hossain 1, * , Samer Dessouky 1 , Ayetullah B. Biten 2 , Arturo Montoya 1 and Daniel Fernandez 2   Citation: Hossain, M.F.T.; Dessouky, S.; Biten, A.B.; Montoya, A.; Fernandez, D. Harvesting Solar Energy from Asphalt Pavement. Sustainability 2021, 13, 12807. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212807 Academic Editor: Mohammad Jafari Received: 25 October 2021 Accepted: 13 November 2021 Published: 19 November 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA; samer.dessouky@utsa.edu (S.D.); arturo.montoya@utsa.edu (A.M.) 2 Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA; ayetullah.biten@my.utsa.edu (A.B.B.); kbm997@my.utsa.edu (D.F.) * Correspondence: fahimtanvir.ce@gmail.com Abstract: This study aims at designing and developing a new technique to harvest solar energy from asphalt pavements. The proposed energy harvester system consists of a pavement solar box with a transparent polycarbonate sample and a thin-film solar panel. This device mechanism can store energy in a battery charged over daytime and later convert it into electric power as per demand. A wide range of polycarbonate samples containing different thicknesses, elastic moduli, and light transmission properties were tested to select the most efficient materials for the energy harvester system. Transmittance Spectroscopy was conducted to determine the percent light transmission property of the polycarbonate samples at different wavelengths in the visible spectrum. Finite Element Analysis modeling of the pavement–tire load system was conducted to design the optimal energy harvester system under static load. It was followed by the collection of data on the generated power under different weather conditions. The energy harvesters were also subjected to vehicular loads in the field. The results suggest that the proposed pavement solar box can generate an average of 23.7 watts per square meter continuously over 6 h a day under sunny conditions for the weather circumstances encountered in South Texas while providing a slightly smaller power output in other weather circumstances. It is a promising self-powered and low-cost installation technique that can be implemented at pedestrian crossings and intersections to alert distracted drivers at the time of pedestrian crossing, which is likely to improve pedestrian safety. Keywords: energy harvesting; pavement solar box; pedestrian safety; intersection; solar road; asphalt pavement 1. Introduction Sustainable energy is considered a principle of exploiting energy sources to satisfy the present generation’s needs without adversely affecting future generations’ ability to meet their needs [1]. The rapid industrial development and population growth worldwide demand the search for sustainable energy sources. A considerable amount of research and innovation have been performed to discover and develop energy harvesting technologies. Energy harvesting is the technique of accumulating and storing energy from a system and converting it into electrical energy [2]. Energy harvesting sources can be categorized into two major groups: macro and micro energy harvesting sources. Large-scale energy harvesting sources are referred to as macro energy harvesting sources and include solar, hydro, and wind energy. Micro energy harvesting is associated with small-scale energy har- vesting sources, which comprise electromagnetic, electrostatic, mechanical, and geothermal variations [3–6]. As roadway infrastructures are continuously exposed to solar radiation, mechanical loading and vibration, geothermal energy, and wind energy, they can be used as a source of sustainable energy to extract energy using specific technologies [7–10]. Energy harvesting from transportation infrastructures has the potential to achieve sustainable transportation infrastructure systems. Current energy harvesting systems used for energy harvesting from roadways consist of two main types, i.e., thermal- and mechanical-based systems. The first type converts Sustainability 2021, 13, 12807. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212807 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability