In North Carolina what we do to be more energy efficient, is we use solar panels. I am writing to you to explain what you can do to make North Carolina more energy efficient. I will be introducing methods that you can do help North Carolina become a more energy efficient state. Also I will be explaining how those methods help the small communities and the big cities.

Here in North Carolina we get most of our energy from places like Duke energy and Piedmont electrical. Duke energy is a big supplier of energy, Duke energy started in Greenville and Greensboro NC in 1911, burning coal for electrical energy. Duke energy gets most of its coal from Central Appalachia and Duke has a total of 18 coal plants currently operating in the U.S. On Sunday February 2, 2014, Duke Energy employees noticed coal ash waste was spilling from one of its coal ash ponds into the Dan River near Eden, North Carolina. Duke did not publicly report the spill until the following day. Enough about Duke energy let's talk about North Carolina as a state and what you can do to help us. North Carolina faces some problems with so many power plants around NC which pollutes our planet so thats why these ideas are amazing. One idea is Pavegen which is a type of tile that transports your footsteps into electrical energy and the good thing is you can put it anywhere. You can put them on sidewalks where thousands of people walk a day or even a football or soccer field. Which can power all of our city's electrical. Another idea is Solar Freaking Roadways which are solar panels roads and they can do amazing things. They can harness the energy from the to produce electricity and the cool thing is you can program them to make almost anything like a basketball court, field hockey or ever hopscotch. They can tell drivers if there are animals on the road ahead and can keep the roads heated so there isn't any ice.

Pavegen is a great way to keep North Carolina clean because its harness the kinetic energy from footsteps and transports it to electrical energy to power the things around. The energy harvested by the Pavegen tile can immediately power off-grid applications such as pedestrian lighting, way finding solutions and advertising signage or be stored in a battery. The reality is that the tiles are seeing about 5 steps every  minute and on a good day the kinetic sidewalk will generate about 75 watt-hours of electricity.  This is equivalent to powering an old 60 watt incandescent light bulb for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The cost is about $76 dollars per tile and that is a really good price because it will pay for itself in the future. Pavegen tile is made up of the top surface of the flooring unit is made from 100% recycled rubber and the base of the slab is constructed from over 80% recycled materials. The system can be simply retrofitted in place of existing flooring systems as well as specified for new developments.The Pavegen tiles are designed to withstand harsh outdoor locations with high footfall. The slabs are waterproof to allow them to operate efficiently in both internal and external environments. That is why pavegen is such an great idea to use all over North Carolina.

Solar Freaking Roadways is an amazing way to harness as much energy possible. They are made up of of smart micro processing, interlock and solar units which makes them intelligent panels. They are solar panels so they generate electricity, which generates money because we are not going to run out of sun, so they pay for themselves. Everybody's electricity bill will go down. Back in 2010, Scott Brusaw estimated a cost of $10,000 for a 12 foot by 12 foot segment of Solar Roadway or around $70 per square foot. They are covered with a temper glass material to meet all impact and load a traction requirements and since it not concrete they don't need to be repaved. Also every panel has a series of led lighting, so no more painting the roads just programming them. It produces clean energy, so no more pollution and they use as much recyclable materials in their production as possible.  An amazing thing is that they are super safe because they are heated so they keep the roads warm which keeps ice and snow of everything. Which means no more putting ice down which corrodes cars. Also no more spending billions on snow removal. Its more safer to drive because the roads are lit up and they can sense if there is any debris or animals on the roads ahead .The roadways have 2 channels that form what's called a cable corridor and one part hoses electrical cables, power lines, data lines and high speed internet, so now more needs for telephone poles and hanging lines which can be damaged during storms. The other channel captures and filters stormwater and melted snow moving it to a treatment facility. It will create thousands of jobs for people all around the world. Solar roadways are one of the best ideas in a while so hopefully you decide to use it all over North Carolina and then recommend it to other states in america.

In conclusion, North Carolina should stop using pollutional resources and use alternative energy efficient resources like Pavegen and Solar Roadways. Pavegen and Solar roadways is a great way to harness as much energy as possible and keep the environment clean. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.