This
is a really great idea. Biology does
this pretty universally. In fact if you are in the forest and there is no light
at all, your eyes will adjust downward to the point that it is possible to
disturb forest loam to make a visible trail for yourself. This is real handy if you want to prepare a
path for yourself to use without artificial light
Thus
optimizing the same effect and concentrating it within paint is a very sound
idea. I am pleased that they can still
be effective in the presence of headlamps.
I would have expected a problem there.
I
suspect that this will catch on rather quickly as well simply because it will
be popular. People do go out in the dark
and this certainly can make bike lanes safer.
The
Netherlands Is Experimenting With Glow-In-The-Dark Roads
APR.
14, 2014,
The Netherlands has come up
with a brilliant way to save money and energy on road lighting: glow-in-the-dark paint.
For the first time ever, light-up lines have been painted on a
brief stretch of highway in Oss, southeast of Amsterdam.
According to the
BBC, the paint contains a "photo-luminising" powder that
charges up in the daytime, releasing a green glow for up to eight hours at
night.
Interactive artist Daan Roosegaarde and Dutch civil engineering
firm Heijmans worked together on the "Smart
Highway" project.
"I forced them to look at movies of jellyfish. How does a jellyfish
give light? It has no solar panel, it has no energy bill," Roosegaarde
told the BBC. "And then we went back to the drawing board and came up
with these paints which charge up in the daytime and give light at night,"
he said.
The official launch date for the project is set for later this
month. The technology is expected to expand internationally later this
year.
Here's a GIF showing how the lights work:
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