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84 Production and industry 06 LANGUAGE SKILLS EXPLORE EXTRAS Explore reading: Harnessing the sun’s energy Bastian Schaefer of Airbus Industries shares a very bold idea: that in the near future, we may be able to 3D-print jumbo jets. In his talk on ted.com , he shares a vision for the sustainable future of aviation: a jumbo jet that’s light, cheap and spacious, with an exterior that mimics the structure of bone. He imagines the jet as a “living, breathing organism,” complete with its own consciousness. And he imagines the jet printed from the ground up. Why use 3D printing technology to create the plane of the future? Bastian explains that unlike traditional machining – which removes material from a larger piece of material – 3D printing is an additive process, layering material on top of material. Thus, there is little to no waste. However, there is still a long way to go. Before we can create Bastian’s jumbo jet, we need the giant 3D printer to print it. But Bastian reminds us of the importance of having a vision. He says, “We cannot predict the future. We can only create a vision of what it might be.” Read the text about a new way to harness the sun’s energy, then answer the questions (1–7) using a maximum of four words. Write your answers in the spaces provided. The first one (0) has been done for you. 33 About eight years ago, an electrical engineer and his counselor wife started throwing around an idea to replace asphalt on highways and byways throughout the US with electricity- producing solar panels that were tough enough to be driven upon. The idea blossomed into a project where the panels featured built-in LEDs that could ‘paint the road’ with markings and warnings, and could be heated to prevent snow and ice build-up. The US Federal Highway Administration paid for the couple to produce a working prototype, which they did, and then again to expand the concept into an operational parking lot setup. As the latter contract comes to an end, the Solar Roadways team is now dipping into crowdfunding waters with a campaign to raise funds for the move into commercial pro- duction.  Many roads, highways, parking lots or driveways can spend much of their daytime unused. In 2006, Scott and Julie Brusaw hatched a plan to make use of all that untapped energy by replacing asphalt with toughened PV panels that would also include embedded lighting to act as road markings and driver alerts, as well as communication and power cables to replace overhead lines.  The project received funding from the US De- partment of Transportation in August 2009, and by February 2010, the first 12 x 12 ft (3.7 x 3.7 m) road panel (made up of 16 smaller connected panels) was ready, complete with embedded LEDs that could be programmed to deliver custom messages. The proof-of-concept Phase I prototype didn’t include any PV cells and lacked the custom-hardened glass with integrated heating element for the upper face, but it served to demonstrate that the proposed electronics worked as promised. The team also built smaller crosswalk panels featuring load cells to test a pedestrian/wildlife detection mechanism, which would flash instructions to slow down when a weight was detected on the surface.  After entertaining the world media circus for a while, and traveling around the country to deliver talks on the project, funding was secured in June 2011 for the second phase of development – to create a fully functional parking lot.  Work on the electronics began immediately, and a site next to the electronics lab prepared for groundbreaking. The Brusaws and their small but dedicated team of volunteers revealed a new hexagonal road panel design in July 2013 that would allow them “to handle curves easily, and we designed the shape, macro and micro textures for stability, traction and strength.” The first batch of the completed new panels was ready for installation and testing by September. Solar Roadways installs energy-harvesting parking lot Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv