Glowing paint could illuminate the roads of the future

WASHINGTON – The Netherlands is testing the latest in road design technology: glow-in-the-dark paint.

Warn-out road markings can all but disappear in the rain or at night. And expensive,electric street lights don’t always help or are few and far between in suburban or rural areas.

But the “photo-luminising” paint is both brighter and more efficient than ordinary road paint or electric street lights, according to Netherlands-based Studio Roosegaarde, which developed the solar-powered technology. .

According to Wired’s UK site, sunlight fuels the paint during the day and the glow can last eight hours once the sun sets, according to Wired.

The hi-tech paint now marks a short stretch of road in the Netherlands as a trial run.

The paint could serve as an alternative to street lights as governments try to cut costs and save energy. It could also help developing countries like India where power outages are common, according to Wired.

Watch a video to see the glow-in-the-dark paint in action.

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