I get the feeling these will cost way to much and also could be dug up by thieves. These people would be better off have solar panels on top of roofs of buildings than the road.
Solar Roadways Seeks $1M to Replace Streets with Solar Panels
- Thread starter Rhykker
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The amount of energy lost is on such a minute scale that it won't have an effect. Compare this to oil. We remove millions upon millions of barrels from our Earth every day. Even more of it is burned, turning mass into energy, adding heat, light, and kinetic energy to systems. This, on the whole (barring the effects of greenhouse gas, which is another discussion entirely), has no effect on the Earth because the planet is not a closed system and this energy is lost, or transferred to other things.zumbledum said:
Sounds great in theory, but what about upkeep? My city can't afford to keep the roads paved with regular asphalt. I don't expect we'll be seeing this ever.
In between damage from being driven on, dirt and grime, snow and lack of sunlight in the northern areas of the US, I have to wonder if this system will ever manage to break even. I think it'd be better to incentivize homeowners to install their own solar panels, and try to devise a way to use the heat from asphalt to generate power with a system you could bury beneath the street.
In this case it's heat energy that radiates off into space at night. And after we used the electricity it will still be heat energy radiating out into space, it just takes a little longer.zumbledum said:
Funny enough asphalt is one of the greener tech's out thereSkee said:
When they repave a road they are required by law to used about 80% recycled material from the road.
Asphalt is also a byproduct of oil. It's not the reason we go looking for it so it will be produced in roughly the same amount it will just be waste. So in terms of construction it's up there with Drywall for near neutral energy impact while still being cheep.
True, but I think it will make up for that with sheer surface area. I mean, think of how much energy would be produced by just a few blocks worth of road solar panels not to mention an entire city or even the entire country if it ever got that far even if a large percentage of it were covered up. Besides, it will just mean they'll have to clean the roads more often while apparently at the same time having to fix it less, and that's definitely a plus in my book.FalloutJack said:
If they roll this out on every road in major cities then electric cars suddenly become a LOT more viable as a means of transport! This could be the major stepping stone towards a fossil fuel free future
I'm curious how they melt snow. I mean Canadian levels of snow.
If you still had to plow them I guarantee a snowplow would rip the little bumps right off the road. I've seen a snowplow remove a speedbump so I don't think it would have a very hard time.
I'm also curious why we should put all our solar panels on things that have cars blocking the surface area of the road all day and the time they're generally vacant is when it's pitch black out. Yes, I wager there's always some area of the road unobstructed by cars, but I have to wonder if it would be simply more prudent to put a bunch of conventional solar panels on the side of the road raised up that could rotate to face the sun. That way snow will fall off it and we don't have to worry about rigorously constructing it for driving purposes (or putting LEDs in it).
Also, have you been in a city at a time that wasn't noon? Generally skyscrapers block a lot of light.
I'd also like to see how they hold up in a -40 degree Celsius winter.
If you still had to plow them I guarantee a snowplow would rip the little bumps right off the road. I've seen a snowplow remove a speedbump so I don't think it would have a very hard time.
I'm also curious why we should put all our solar panels on things that have cars blocking the surface area of the road all day and the time they're generally vacant is when it's pitch black out. Yes, I wager there's always some area of the road unobstructed by cars, but I have to wonder if it would be simply more prudent to put a bunch of conventional solar panels on the side of the road raised up that could rotate to face the sun. That way snow will fall off it and we don't have to worry about rigorously constructing it for driving purposes (or putting LEDs in it).
Also, have you been in a city at a time that wasn't noon? Generally skyscrapers block a lot of light.
I'd also like to see how they hold up in a -40 degree Celsius winter.
Way too many people here that feel the need to comment when they have NO FUCKING CLUE about solar tech. Nor can they imagine how it would function at all because... cars always are on top of reads! Yes, the cars always cover up nearly 100% of the roads! .....my god, the imaginations of these people....
What really sucks is how the R&D budgets for solar advancement is extremely tiny compared to the amount of money wasted on perpetuating oil and gas usage. Once solar cells can capture enough energy, everything will change very quickly. Plus I would bet the disinformation campaigns would start, trying to convince us how solar panels are the devil and oil is way the truth and the life.
What really sucks is how the R&D budgets for solar advancement is extremely tiny compared to the amount of money wasted on perpetuating oil and gas usage. Once solar cells can capture enough energy, everything will change very quickly. Plus I would bet the disinformation campaigns would start, trying to convince us how solar panels are the devil and oil is way the truth and the life.
A lot of the doubts raised in this thread are actually covered in their FAQ.
http://solarroadways.com/faq.shtml
They clearly don't have everything figured out and a couple of the answers are a little too handwavey for my taste, but they certainly seem to have considered most of the different issues.
I don't think this project has legs because I think they are shooting too high with the initial offering and that always makes people wary. That and the oil lobby is just way too powerful. That said,if they can convince some commercial business to do up their parking lots with this stuff and its successful, it could gain traction (intended, sorry).
http://solarroadways.com/faq.shtml
They clearly don't have everything figured out and a couple of the answers are a little too handwavey for my taste, but they certainly seem to have considered most of the different issues.
I don't think this project has legs because I think they are shooting too high with the initial offering and that always makes people wary. That and the oil lobby is just way too powerful. That said,if they can convince some commercial business to do up their parking lots with this stuff and its successful, it could gain traction (intended, sorry).
I think this could be a good idea, although for this I think first working on sidewalks would be a better place to start then main road ways. As you can work on getting rid of the issues that will show up from this. Also I doubt they have thought of this yet, but the damage that comes from the freeze thaw cycle. People always seem to under estimate the power of ice.
It is an awesome idea but roads are...well dirty, give it a month and them panels wont be able to absorb enough sun to power an LED. Why not make the footpath out of them, sure footpaths get dirty too but would be much easier to maintain/clean i would imagine.
I hope the solar roadway project gets successful and the power issues will get resolve..Thanks for sharing out the details..Rhykker said:
I hope the solar roadway project gets successful and the power issues will get resolve..Thanks for sharing out the details..Rhykker said:
a well known electrical engineer on youtube (EEVblog) already disproved this idea, as it would take more power to power the LED's than it would generate (and his calculations were with optimal energy factors, such as the panel not being damaged or covered by a car). its such a huge waste of money until we make more efficient solar cells.