A comprehensive review of renewable energy utilization in roadway infrastructure

This review presents recent advances in the utilization of renewable energy within roadway infrastructure, with a focus on distributed sources such as wind, vibration, solar, and thermal energy. Drawing on publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection from 1992 to 2022 and employing bibliometric tools including VOSviewer and CiteSpace, the analysis highlights a steady expansion in research scale and a thematic shift from device-level performance optimization toward broader concerns such as carbon reduction and economic benefits. The findings indicate that wind energy studies are evolving from single-turbine efficiency analyses to investigations of traffic–wind field coupling. The vibration energy harvesting has demonstrated prototype feasibility through piezoelectric, electromagnetic, and triboelectric nanogenerators, yet long-term field validation remains limited. Photovoltaic systems exhibit considerable promise when integrated into noise barriers, slopes, and pavements, and thermal energy technologies simultaneously enable energy recovery and pavement temperature regulation. Despite these advances, significant gaps persist in the durability assessment, system integration, and life-cycle evaluation. Future research should emphasize multi-source complementarity, energy storage coupling, and the establishment of standardized evaluation frameworks to facilitate the transition of roadway renewable energy from proof-of-concept to large-scale deployment.