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Crowdfunding Cloud Solar Roads

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But what if you could take existing infrastructure and put it to other uses?

Idaho-based Solar Roadways aims to do just that, and is crowdfunding a project to manufacture its interlocking solar panels on a wider scale–with the ambitious (but laudable) aim to meet our future power needs, charging electric cars, and even homes, using our roads. Before you even get to the product’s application, the product itself is rather fascinating, comprising hexagonal glass tiles that act as a solar panel and computer all in one. Since harvesting data manually can be time-consuming and painstaking, a wide range of automated tools have been developed to assist users in making this process fast and smooth. Click here to find best web scraping tools in 2020.  When you choose Flatiron Solar as your home or business solar installer, we will do our best to make sure your experience with us is worry-free, transparent and enjoyable.

To assist you in making the right decision on the best one to use, we reviewed the best web scraping tools based on these four factors:

  • Features: We scrutinized the distinguishing features of each of the web data extractors.
  • Deployment method: We evaluated how each of the tools can be deployed—browser extension, cloud, desktop, or any other.
  • Output format: We looked at the format each of the tools uses to deliver the scraped content.
  • Price: We assessed the cost of using each of the tools.

Web scraping tools:

1. Outwit Hub:

Being a famous Firefox extension, Outwit Hub can be downloaded and integrated with your Firefox browser. It is a powerful Firefox add-on that has come with plenty of web scraping capabilities. Out of the box, it has some data point recognition features that will get your job done quickly and easily. Extracting the information from different sites with Outwit Hub doesn’t require any programming skills, and that’s what makes this tool the prior choice of non-programmers and non-technical individuals. It is free of cost and makes good use of its options to scrape your data, without compromising on quality.

2. Web Scraper (a Chrome Extension):

It is an outstanding web scraping software to acquire data without any coding. In other words, we can say that Web Scraper is an alternative to the Outwit Hub program. It is exclusively available for Google Chrome users and allows us to set up the sitemaps of how our sites should be navigated. Moreover, it will scrape different web pages, and the outputs are obtained in the form of CSV files.

3. Spinn3r:

Spinn3r is an outstanding choice for programmers and non-programmers. It can scrape the entire blog, news website, social media profile and RSS feeds for its users. Spinn3r makes use of the Firehose APIs that manage 95% of the indexing and web crawling works. In addition, this program allows us to filter out the data using specific keywords, which will weed out the irrelevant content in no time.

4. Fminer:

Fminer is one of the best, easiest and user-friendly web scraping software on the internet. It combines world’s best features and is widely famous for its visual dashboard, where you can view the extracted data before it gets saved on your hard disk. Whether you simply want to scrape your data or have some web crawling projects, Fminer will handle all types of tasks.

5. Dexi.io:

Dexi.io is a famous web-based scraper and data application. It doesn’t need you to download the software as you can perform your tasks online. It is actually a browser-based software that allows us to save the scraped information directly to the Google Drive and Box.net platforms. Moreover, it can export your files to CSV and JSON formats and supports the data scraping anonymously due to its proxy server.

6. ParseHub:

Parsehub is one of the best and most famous web scraping programs that acquire data without any programming or coding skills. It supports both complicated and simple data and can process sites that use JavaScript, AJAX, cookies, and redirects. Parsehub is a desktop application for the Mac, Windows and Linux users. It can handle up to five crawl projects for you at a time, but the premium version can handle more than twenty crawl projects simultaneously. If your data requires the custom-built setups, this DIY tool is not ideal for you.

Glass doesn’t seem a natural fit for a product that’s designed to be driven on, but Solar Roadway founders Scott and Julie Brusaw have come up with a design and construction that stands up to the rigors of use–passing traction, load testing and impact resistance testing without issue.

To prove it, Solar Roadways has produced a video of a tractor being driven over its solar panels–without any nasty cracking sounds…

Each panel contains a layout of photovoltaic panels–currently covering around two thirds of the tile, with the eventual aim of 100 percent coverage–and is laced with microprocessors.

These allow for “smart Solar panels Melbourne” , that relay information as well as generating energy. Combined with a patchwork of LED units, the panels have nearly limitless potential as far as road markings go–from denoting lanes to active, real-time arrows, words and signals.

A thin mesh of heating elements is also buried within the tile, keeping them snow-free–beneficial for both generation purposes, and keeping road surfaces safe in winter.

The Brusaws have just unveiled their second-generation prototype, in the form of a solar parking lot.

It still needs work–Solar Roadways intends to cover the mounting holes for each tile, fill gaps between the panels and come up with a software system for controlling the LEDs.

The parking lot prototype also shows the couple’s realism with the task at hand. It’s wildly unfeasible that roadways will generate solar energy in the short term, and possibly even for decades and decades to come.

But by starting small–with driveways, bike paths, patios, sidewalks, parking lots, playgrounds, as Solar Roadways puts it–the concept can be tested thoroughly before its application on a larger scale.

The potential for parking lots in particular could be great, allowing them to go “off-grid” yet provide enough power for future electric vehicle demands. After that, Solar Roadways suggests its product could be used on quiet, residential roads–before a future move to highways.

Solar Roadways has started an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, hoping to generate $1 million in start-up funds.

The concept has currently raised $170,000 with 17 days to go–and Indiegogo’s flexible funding plan means the company will be able to use any funds it generates to work on the project.

A nationwide–or worldwide–network of solar-powered roads is a long way off. But if Solar Roadways’ panels prove successful on a smaller scale, solar sidewalks or parking lots may not be far off. I’m sure a Solar Batteries Manufacturer will develop this technology into a reality!

This story originally appeared on www.greencarreports.com.