Integrating renewable energy devices with streetscape elements to electrify the Egyptian roads

The high percentage of carbon emissions, which leads to various environmental problems such as air pollution and global warming, is one of the critical issues resulting from the growth of cities. International agreements are being established to prevent these negative effects. Non-renewable resources are also being depleted and may become extinct in future generations. Due to the extensive use of fossil fuels by automobiles, data show that the transportation sector is responsible for roughly a quarter of worldwide carbon emissions. On the other hand, in developing nations, energy is scarce in many neighborhoods and districts because the governments are unable to meet the community's need for power supply. This research aims to work on techniques that will reduce the carbon emissions produced by roadways while also building environmentally friendly neighborhoods by electrifying the roads using (RE). A novel component called "Energy-Road Scape" (ERS) elements will be used to demonstrate how to generate (RE) and, hence, reduce carbon emissions. This element is the result of integrating streetscape elements with (RE). This research presents a database for ERS elements and properties as a tool for architects and urban designers to design ERS elements instead of utilizing regular streetscape elements.

www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Literature review Streetscape elements. To retain the aesthetic and functional qualities of the streetscape, different streetscape fittings are positioned in public or communal areas 5 . The impact of these elements on human health, social life, economy, environment, and psychology of human actions was discovered by researchers through their research path 6 , which is why many streetscape designers, architects, and urban designers regarded them as aesthetic, healthy, and special features in their designs 7 . This encouraged individuals to consider the significance of streetscape components deeply 8 . Various academics have categorized the streetscape components in various ways over time, the components shown in Fig. 1 made up the framework of streetscape elements employed in this study. This framework lists all the components that have previously been discussed by various researchers.
Renewable energy (RE) sources. Human efforts to use (RE) sources have altered because of the current energy crisis 9 . The industry for (RE) has shown tremendous technological advancement during the past fifteen years 10 . The rising level of competition with conventional power plants provided momentum to the global market for (RE) technology 11 . According to previous research statistics within the field of (RE), the use of sun, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass can generate enough energy to serve the world's population more than a few times over 12 . However, this is considered anticipatory if compared to the actually practical usage. In fact, few technologies for harnessing (RE) have proven to be effective, while the economic viability of this technology is restricted to a small number of countries worldwide 13 . Markets are frequently drastically changed by grants in favour of fossil fuels, which push (RE) to the back burner 14 . Early "entrance into the (RE) technologies market, aimed to start a transformation to an energy system based on (RE) technologies and building of production capacities and installations of (RE) technologies, and benefit from their macroeconomic development 15 . Additionally, as more technological advancements are made, (RE) technologies are becoming competitive without investment support 16 . As shown in Fig. 2, this study will describe the characteristics, installation methods, and materials used for (RE) sources such solar energy, kinetic energy, wind energy, biomass energy, hydroelectric power, and geothermal energy.

Methodology
This research consists of two parts: theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part presents streetscape elements and introduces (RE) sources. The empirical part presents the properties of new sustainable elements called Energy-RoadScape elements, which integrate (RE) devices with streetscape elements as a tool for reducing CO2 emissions from roads. In which it will solve the infrastructure problem facing the spreading of the electric vehicle industry in developing nations. The research will present a database to help the designers calculate the amount of energy produced from using ERS as well as the properties of each element. The properties of the ERS elements are divided into the initial cost of installing this element, the area needed to operate efficiently, and the life-time and annual maintenance cost of each element.

Empirical work
The goal of the research is to identify the Energy-RoadScape ERS) Elements and properties, which result from integrating streetscape elements with (RE) devices. The characteristics of the ERS elements are identified, analyzed, and presented in three phases as shown in Fig. 3.
Phase one: relation matrix. The relation matrix identifies the streetscape elements such as sidewalks, trees and landscape strips, etc. that can be integrated with (RE) devices, such as solar, wind, biomass, hydropower, kinetic energy, and geothermal energy generators. The results of this phase is a new elements called ERS. Depending on previous studies and real-life applications that integrated Streetscape elements with (RE) devices, this research created a relation matrix as illustrated in Table 1. This research was able to identify the categories of streetscape features that can be integrated with RE to create new elements called (ERS). This study focused on the small types of renewables that can be integrated with streetscape elements such biomass, kinetic energy (piezoelectric cells), PV, tiny hydropower plants, geothermal, and small wind turbines that can be installed in small spaces. Massive wind turbines and enormous hydropower plants were excluded from this study due to their excessively large footprints. Table 1, shows that we can create forty-eight ERS elements, which is resulted from integrating 11 main streetscape elements and 13 sub-elements (for a total of 24 streetscape elements) with 7 RE sources. This is the number of possibilities resultant from the integration of streetscape elements with RE devices in the matrix. This will give streetscape designers, architects, landscapers, urban designers, and transportation engineers a variety of options during the designing process of their projects using ERS elements. The table also showed that P.V. cells can be integrated with 17streetscape elements, which is considered the most significant energy sources that can be integrated with streetscape elements. On the other hand, Geothermal and Piezoelectric (Pavement) cells create 6 and 8 ERS elements, respectively. Phase two: cross-sectional survey. The Cross-sectional surveys are used to gather data about the characteristics of RE devices and streetscape elements. In cross-sectional surveys, questionnaires are used to gather data from a population or a representative sample about a specific subject at a specific time period 17 . In this research, the data was gathered from Egyptian firms that are specialized in constructing streetscapes elements such as "Curve Streetscape Company" and RE contactors such as "I-Solar Company", "3 M company", Three Brothers Company, etc. Since there is still a scarcity in utilizing some types of RE devices in Egypt. For example, there is no local companies installing kinetic energy harvesting systems such as piezoelectric cells in Egypt. Hence, popular online marketing websites such as Alibaba and Amazon were employed to gather information on these materials. In this study, two cross-sectional surveys were conducted: The first cross-sectional survey focused on collected data regarding streetscape elements. While the second cross-sectional survey, was targeting RE devices as shown in Fig. 4. As indicated in Fig. 4, the first cross-sectional survey focused on the price, lifespan, energy produced, area used, and annual maintenance cost of each RE device. Since no local company operates in all RE disciplines, the data was gathered from a number of international and local companies. The second cross-sectional survey provided information on the characteristics of each streetscape element, including size, cost, lifespan, and annual maintenance costs. It was discovered that RE devices are very expensive. Using ERS elements, will increase the initial cost of installing streetscape elements almost five times more than using regular elements.   www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Cross-sectional surveys on renewable energy (RE). A number of meetings were held with twelve directors from various Egyptian corporations to get information on the characteristics of (RE) devices between May 2022 and October 2022. A list of data summarized the characteristics of each RE device available in the companies, was provided to the research. The data provided by the managers was gathered and summarized in Table 2) to include: The initial cost of each device, the cost of accessories needed to operate that device effectively, the cost of annual maintenance, the amount of energy produced, the area needed for this device to produce the previous amount of energy, and the lifetime of this device before it needs to be replaced. In order to fill-in the data gaps for some devices, such as piezoelectric cells, which are not widely used in Egypt, a search was conducted through the online marketing sites such as Alibaba and Amazon websites. The amount of energy presented in Table 2 is correlated with the area and cost of the RE devices. Thus, if it is required to produce twice the amount of energy, the area and cost will be doubled. In comparison to the energy produced by piezoelectric cells for roads, Table 2 demonstrates that the initial cost of piezoelectric cells is very expensive. Due to the dust and the climate in Egypt which is dominated by desert, P.V. cells require more maintenance each year than any other type of equipment. Although the small hydropower system has a similar initial cost to small wind turbines, but it generates more electricity overall.    Table 3, provides an overview of the many characteristics of streetscape elements, which include product description, area, cost, lifetime, and annual maintenance. The information includes each element's local startup and ongoing repairs costs, as well as the space required to install it and its lifetime.
hase three: energy-roadscape (ERS) elements database. The ERS elements database was created using the information gathered from relational matrix and the two cross-sectional surveys. The area of RE devices and the area of streetscape elements were compared in order to recalculate the properties of ERS elements. The area of streetscape elements was used as the smallest area that could be used for this integration, and the researchers recalculated the cost and the power generated for the larger area. The cost of ERS elements were calculated by sum the initial costs of the streetscape elements, the initial costs of the RE device, and the costs of the accessories required to use this device. While the cost of annual maintenance was calculated by adding the cost of the annual maintenance of RE device and streetscape elements. Regarding the lifetime, the research compared the lifetime of streetscape elements to the RE device and chose whichever is less. Table 4 lists all the characteristics of ERS elements cost, minimum area needed, daily energy production, annual maintenance cost, and lifetime. The results suggest that ERS elements will generate energy effectively for at least ten years, but it will cost more than typical streetscape elements by an average of ten times more than the regular initial cost. The annual maintenance cost of ERS elements ranges from 21 dollars at the lowest end to 93 dollars at the most. Piezoelectric cells (pavements) provide the least amount of energy per day for ERS elements; they create 2 kWh for a 10 m 2 area, whereas geothermal energy produces 24 kWh for a 1.5 m 2 . Although geothermal energy is an uncommon source of energy and doesn't occur in most locations, it can be considered the element that produces the most energy per day.

Discussion
Energy-RoadScape (ERS) is a sustainable element and it could be considered as the new generation of Streetscape elements, it is the product of integrating streetscape elements with (RE) devices. ERS share the benefit of streetscape elements and (RE) device. It affects the social state by increase the quality of life in the city offering more job opportunities, developing the community, and giving it its identity, they also help in making the neighbourhoods more liveable place; they give the families and children a place to express their feelings and an outdoor space to play and enjoy their time 18 . in addition, ERS affect the economic state by increasing the property values since that people prefer to buy a property in a sustainable city and it reduce the electricity bills in public facilities due to the usage of (RE) 7 . Moreover, ERS reduced the environmental negative impact for energy generation since fossil fuels will not burn to generate energy which will reduce the production of GHG. Although, some CO2 is still produced during the manufacture and construction of (RE) devices 15 . ERS create clean and health environment and reduce the carbon emissions 15 .

Conclusion
Every economic development requires energy as a vital input. Oil, petroleum, coal, and natural gas are the primary non-renewable sources of energy used today, but their availability are declining. In the future, it was determined that RE is going to be a vital field and have been strongly recommended in the field of research and production of its equipment's based on the new trend in the growth of populated areas, taking into account the high ratio of residential activity in energy consumption. The biggest problem with adopting RE is that it is more expensive than fossil fuels. This type of energy produces low net energy ratios, but it is always available. In spite of potential cost reductions from research on this technology, RE costs may not soon be comparable with the cost of fossil fuels. The economic and environmental implications of employing RE sources were the focus of this study. It demonstrates that ERS elements may be used effectively in every city, but it also demonstrates that ERS elements increase the initial cost of the road, and the payback period will take almost 3-4 years. Additionally, ERS elements can generate more energy than the road itself might use. If third-world nations promote the use of ERS elements in their roads, their cities will be able to support their own energy needs and will be able to sell this continuous energy generation for a profit. These underdeveloped nations, which are underdeveloped because of the energy issue, can be developed with the aid of ERS elements. This research is valuable because it provides a brand-new component called ERS elements that can be used anywhere and contributes to addressing major environmental issues like lowering carbon emissions, ozone depletion, and climatic changes. www.nature.com/scientificreports/

Recommendation
The research proposed an integration between streetscape elements with (RE) sources, to result in Enery-Road-Scape elements that were proved theoretically to reduce Carbon emissions. However, it is strongly recommended that these elements undergo industrial development processes so that the theory becomes policy.

Data availability
The datasets that were collected from the private companies and helped analyse the ERS database are not publicly available due to the request of the companies because it may affect their sales strategy, but they are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.  Table 4. Properties of energy-RoadScape elements ERS elements.