World's First "Green Highway" for Biofuel and Electric Cars - Coming to Finland?

Plans are in the works for a road in Finland where service stops would offer electric charging stations and pumps filled with locally-sourced biofuels.

And while some would-be green projects often seem misguided and like an inefficient use of resources, this road wouldn't be built just for the sake of a green road. It would be 130 km worth of finishing touches on a highway already being constructed to run along the country's southern coast almost to the border with Russia.

"The aim is to create the model for an ecological highway that could be used even on an international level," Aki Marjasvaara, one of the project managers, told AFP.

Impressed? You might be even more so by how it started: a simple suggestion from the town of Loviisa, which is east of Helsinki and near where the green highway will begin. So they took charge of the project.

Of course, the project has not been approved yet—a cost and feasibility study are expected to be released in March. But if it goes through, construction on the highway, which could also include geothermal heat pumps and "smart" lighting, could begin next year.

Waste and other resources from the region surrounding the green highway would be used to produce "ethanol, other biofuels and electricity to keep the most environmentally-friendly cars on the green highway running."

Oh yeah, "normal" cars will be able to fill up, too.