If all the existing roads in the United States were converted to solar roads, they would produce three times as much energy as the country currently uses. That is one of the staggering pieces of information you can find in a high-energy YouTube video about Solar Roadways, which is run by Scott and Julie Brusaw in Idaho.

The idea originally came from Julie in 2006 when they were talking about solar panels, which normally have been placed on roofs. Why not put the panels on the ground, she asked. And while it sounded like a totally out of the box idea, they began blue sky thinking about it.

What about snow and ice? Put in heating elements. What about highway lines? Use LED lights and that makes signaling dynamic. What about overhead power and telephone lines? Put them in a cable corridor. (Like I said, check out that video – really, the possibilities are mind-bending.)