We are so thankful for the supporters who have heard about Solar Roadways’ vision and decided to share this journey with us. We are dedicated to putting all of our energy into bringing Solar Roadways to the world on a grand scale and to make it a greener and safer place for everyone. A big challenge for a small start-up, we know! It’s a solemn commitment and we would not have reached this point without the grass roots movement that has grown up around Solar Roadways®. There are so many ways that people help us on our way. They:
In order for Solar Roadways® to be implemented on a large scale (i.e. highways) public acceptance will be needed. The first step is to make sure people are aware of the project. Our first Indiegogo Campaign and Solar Freakin’ Roadways video reached millions of people. But we estimate that we are still a long way from our tipping point. Our goal is to reach the point where a majority of people on earth are aware that an option exists which can help to solve problems in so many areas at once, i.e. infrastructure, environment, smart grid, job creation, national security…. People have to know about this option in order to choose to support projects at community, state and federal levels.
SR supporters are a big part of our team. Before we started our first Indiegogo campaign, we had only a few thousand followers on our Facebook fan site. Now that has grown to over 86,000. It happened because of the dedicated supporters who helped us to grow the site. Facebook has become our “fan base”. We post all of our news there and it’s a great place to “meet” other SR supporters and join in the conversation. We’d love to grow our Facebook page to over 100,000 over the next few months. Many people have asked us for specific things they can do that would make a difference on Facebook and have asked for tips to make sure they are understanding the protocols. Here are some specific things that really help:
Julie runs our Facebook page and replies personally to comments. Many longtime supporters understand the concepts of Solar Roadways® so well that they jump in to answer the questions of newcomers before we get to it – we love that!
We are trying to grow our Twitter page as well. We will add Instagram and Pinterest buttons to this site as soon as we’ve had time to develop a presence there.
Many supporters let their community and government officials know that they support Solar Roadways®. They say that they want to see it funded by government programs and want to see projects implemented in their area. If you’re interested, you can find contact information for your representatives here.
The election season is now over. Many of you reached out to the candidates of your choice and we retweeted many of you. Now we have a new president elect and we hope he will find many things to love about Solar Roadways such as:
Many of our perks have been designed to promote SR and help us reach that previously described tipping point: bumper stickers, t-shirts, and bracelets can all proclaim your support for Solar Roadways® and encourage people to ask you about it. Items that involve sizing are offered on our SR Gear page here.
Solar Roadways® has received over $2,265,000 in donations through our first and current Indiegogo campaigns! It’s a solemn responsibility for us to be good stewards of those funds. We have honored our campaign promises to use the money to create a manufacturing facility, buy and build the needed equipment, hire employees, and start producing panels
That funding got us far, but there are still many things that could help us grow more quickly - especially more equipment and more employees. We will soon be ready to sell our panels, but until then our USDOT award and donations is what keeps us moving forward. Some of the equipment we need in order to handle all production in house is still out of our reach. Our goal is to raise the money to become self-sufficient. We’ve already brought down costs with the changes we made between SR2 and SR3. More equipment in house could help bring costs down further.
There are 3 ways to donate:
Solar Roadways® is still a privately owned company and we hope to stay that way. With the help of supporters all around the world, we’ve been able to make it thus far without an investor. We have maintained control of our company to make sure we can reach our goals, without compromising our values. We want to create jobs, build the economy, protect the environment – move forward in a responsible manner. We are humbled to have so many people believe in our vision and help us make Solar Roadways® a reality!