Solar Freakin Roadways!!! Why are we not funding this!?!?

Solar Freakin Roadways has got to be the coolest thing ever! They have been around since 2006! Why are we not funding this!?!?!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTA3rnpgzU

And don't forget to sign the government petition!!!

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/fund-solar-roadways-create-national-clean-energy-surplus-and-end-wintery-road-conditions/3hjb7XbS

Because it already costs hundreds of billions of dollars just to throw normal roads down... Their own websites says that roads cover an area about the size of the entire state of Ohio in this country... How much do you think it would cost to cover that much area in freakin solar panels...? Especially when they are HIGHLY inefficient (thick surfaces, it has to support semi trucks driving over it son...) They can't angle the things (its a road, not a solar farm) meaning unless you are on the equator, they are even more inefficient...

Those are only a few of the problems I, a layman on the subject, can think of... I am sure there are a myriad of other issues government studies and engineers have come up with...

We are not funding it because the cost does not recoup nearly fast enough to warrant building them in our roads. Normal roads cost somewhere around $1 million for ever mile of highway. These would easily be 5 to 10x that cost. Even though it produces electricity, in order to recoup the costs of the road they would have to survive for 50+ years without needing replacement. It just would be to expensive to be a viable means to road construction.

This is a thing? Holy ****. If they actually get this going, it could seriously lead to a technological and energy revolution. And no wonder it hasn't gone anywhere since 2006, we are talking about replacing oil-based asphalt and oil-based cars with electronics, recycled glass and all-electric vehicles (this is a situation where they would actually make sense, where the infrastructure itself could power the vehicles).

I'm excited. Very excited.

Talk about buzzkillington over here.

I just spoke with a friend about this and he said cost estimates are about 10 times that as a normal asphalt highway (apparently Japan is already moving in on this tech), with a life expectancy of over 100 years. The average asphalt road in my city gets repaved every 5 years. That's 50 years to match the cost, not accounting for the ELECTRICITY IT GENERATES.

Do you not understand how solar panels work? The surface is transparent. The photons used to power the cells pass through transparent material, regardless of it's thickness (and really, even if there is an energy loss, it would be negligible). And did you see the part in the video where each hexagonal panel can be switched out for a new one if it gets damaged? They don't have to repave anything. And I'm sure, US engineers of all people, would understand the necessity of supporting semi-truck level weights on roads that would potentially cover all those in the US, including interstates.

This could be the revolution in trucking the industry needs to become more cost-effective again. The biggest barrier to all-electric trucks isn't an electric motor's inability to produce torque (train locomotives use them to great effect), it's having the electric infrastructure in place to power the vehicles without having much down time. Those corridors at the side of the road could be equipped with charging stations or if that wireless energy transfer technology they are working on.

This shit isn't worth being cynical about. Everyone needs to get behind this. And prevent Big Oil from snuffing it out.

^

Your truck fetish is a bit creepy btw.

There's still no way to store the energy that these create. You would still have to have just as much regular energy infrastructure in place in order to take over the required energy at night.

Once we come up with a way to store that energy efficiently, I'm all down for this.

A vested interest is now defined as a sexual fetish?

@foxhound_fox said:

This is a thing? Holy ****. If they actually get this going, it could seriously lead to a technological and energy revolution. And no wonder it hasn't gone anywhere since 2006, we are talking about replacing oil-based asphalt and oil-based cars with electronics, recycled glass and all-electric vehicles (this is a situation where they would actually make sense, where the infrastructure itself could power the vehicles).

I'm excited. Very excited.

@Squeets said:

Because it already costs hundreds of billions of dollars just to throw normal roads down... Their own websites says that roads cover an area about the size of the entire state of Ohio in this country... How much do you think it would cost to cover that much area in freakin solar panels...? Especially when they are HIGHLY inefficient (thick surfaces, it has to support semi trucks driving over it son...) They can't angle the things (its a road, not a solar farm) meaning unless you are on the equator, they are even more inefficient...

Those are only a few of the problems I, a layman on the subject, can think of... I am sure there are a myriad of other issues government studies and engineers have come up with...

Talk about buzzkillington over here.

I just spoke with a friend about this and he said cost estimates are about 10 times that as a normal asphalt highway (apparently Japan is already moving in on this tech), with a life expectancy of over 100 years. The average asphalt road in my city gets repaved every 5 years. That's 50 years to match the cost, not accounting for the ELECTRICITY IT GENERATES.

Do you not understand how solar panels work? The surface is transparent. The photons used to power the cells pass through transparent material, regardless of it's thickness (and really, even if there is an energy loss, it would be negligible). And did you see the part in the video where each hexagonal panel can be switched out for a new one if it gets damaged? They don't have to repave anything. And I'm sure, US engineers of all people, would understand the necessity of supporting semi-truck level weights on roads that would potentially cover all those in the US, including interstates.

This could be the revolution in trucking the industry needs to become more cost-effective again. The biggest barrier to all-electric trucks isn't an electric motor's inability to produce torque (train locomotives use them to great effect), it's having the electric infrastructure in place to power the vehicles without having much down time. Those corridors at the side of the road could be equipped with charging stations or if that wireless energy transfer technology they are working on.

This shit isn't worth being cynical about. Everyone needs to get behind this. And prevent Big Oil from snuffing it out.

What about the rubber that wears off from tires on the roads? You see big black streaks of rubber wearing off on the roads everywhere... Dirt from tires... Mud... etc... Are we going to have people go out and clean off ALL of the roads every single day?

And you go on and on about the electricity it generates... Solar power is not a good source of energy insofar as we can harvest it... Yes, the Earth receives enough energy from the sun every day to power humanity for a billion years yadda yadda, but we are not capable of harvesting it very well... Solar power is incredibly inefficient as of now... And we are JUST NOW getting to the point of energy pay back taking only a few years (ie: it takes SEVERAL years just to recuperate the energy expended in producing the cell in the first place before it even gains net energy, which itself is then fairly low). And most of the inefficient solar energy we harvest right now is from giant solar farms with cells directly exposed to sunlight at the most optimal angle possible in the middle of deserts where the sky is clear 24/7... And even then the energy isn't a lot... Now put it in the upper northern hemisphere where there is cloud cover and poor weather all throughout the year, put a one inch thick sheet of their unbreakable glass over the cells, put it at a flat angle since it is a road, etc, etc...

Big oil is not preventing this from happening... If it was worth doing, self-sufficient, etc, etc as all the claims go on about, industry and private citizens would already be investing in it...

Naw. Science and infrastructure isn't worth the cost. It's better to waste money trying to repeal Obamacare and start wars with people who live in mud huts.

Hm, that's a pretty fair point.

I'd like to see some studies done on this tech. Maybe replace a well-traveled highway with a mile of this stuff and lets see how it works. Will there be a significant drop off in energy capture rates as time goes on?

If we solve the issue of storing this energy, and then maybe selling it, would that recoup the costs of sending out a cleaning truck every week to scour the things clean again?

I'd like to see some data on how well the current solar roadways are working out.

Get your own funding.

Really interesting stuff, I supposed this would work if we can properly store it for efficient use. Definitely something that should be applied to modern road infrastructure.

Cool tech, but it won't take root in the US. American conservatives would be wholeheartedly against the technology. Even if projected to save money on roads in long run, and can deliver on generating 3x the electricity consumption of the US, could outlast current asphalt and concrete roads, could create huge amount of jobs, and even if all this could be proven without a shadow of a doubt, such tech would be villainized by the conservative right. It's green, it's solar, it's progressive, it's environmentally friendly, and it'd threaten to undermine big oil and gas companies, it's put people to work, it'd create new road standards to increase safety; everything they hate. Large energy companies would lobby Congress not to allow this to flourish, they'll corrupt our politicians, our media, our electorate. And any decent person that sees it's potential to change the future will only have their morale crushed in the end. Best we all forget this even exists.

Funding it is a huge problem. While roads aren't the most expensive thing in the world, they aren't cheap. Furthermore, electricity an other utilities are run by the private sector. Is the government going to pay for these solar lanes and give the profits to the private sector? How much will that raise the taxes of the average citizen?

Then you have the unknown/unforseen factors. One of the ones I have heard people talking about is friction. These solar panels will increase the friction between the road and car tires, this degrading your fuel efficiency. So, you're taxes probably just got raised to pay for, the energy companies aren't reducing their rate, and to top it off, you now have to fill your car up at the pump more often.

All of a sudden OT turned out to be mainly inhabited by scientists and engineers.

That looks very interesting, it would be nice to see it tested out on a bit of highway as @airshocker pointed out. As others have pointed out the solar roads must have terrible efficiency from surface dirt, angle, clouds, cars obstructing path of light etc. I'd love to see how those two engineers approximated their calculations :P

With the amount of electronics on each "cell" (hexagon unit) it makes me wonder how that further plays into efficiency, considering that you have to power (definitely more than this, but all I can think of at the moment)

-microprocessor

-communications chip/circuit (sending road sensor info to service center)

-LEDs

-Data center(s) to process all the data from the roads and to perform control on road function

The first three wouldn't be too bad but the last one must make a sizable impact on efficiency. I guess it all comes down to how quickly profit could be made on these roads and how much.

I don't like the idea of it. Adding electronics to roadways everywhere is not a good thing. If it's electronic, it can be hacked. Can you imagine the pandemonium that would ensue if say someone like the Chinese government hacked into our roadway panels and started messing around with it? No thanks.

I'm usually for additional alternative energy sources, this just seems to have several obvious issues associated with it that the video doesn't bother to address.

Cost. Period. But by all means donate your money.....and think before posting.

Are you stupid? Just playing that is an awesome idea! :-)

I doubnt modern construction techniques/engineering could handle the extra burden. Construction of road ways, as it is, are usually grossly ineffecient, behind schedule, and over budget.

some of us always were

What are you insinuating bro

So the engineers and scientists of G-Spot have spoken. There are quite a few concerns you guys have for this which make you find this an implausible idea. I’ll address some of the major concerns for you nonbelieving experts.

It looks like the biggest issue you guys are having is the cost… Hellooooo!!! It’s a SOLAR freakin roadway! Idk how many times the video had to emphasis that. That means it pays for itself. A little fyi for you guys but, generating electricity is not the only way it can generate money. Some examples are…

• · By transporting cleaned storm-water to municipalities or agricultural centers
• · By leasing the roadside conduit (Cable Corridor) to entities such as utility companies, telephone, high-speed internet, cable TV, etc.
• · By selling advertising in parking lots with the configurable LEDs
• · By charging people or companies to recharge their electric vehicles

Now obviously the startup cost will be through the roof due to how high tech this all is. However, this is something that will not be done overnight. This is most definitely something we won't see completed in our lifetime (assuming this becomes a reality.) This will have to implement in small chunks. First start off with parking lots, sidewalks, and other small pieces of land where this could be placed; have that pay for itself. Move on to private and residential roads; have that pay for its self. Go on to more popular roadways then on to highways; and have that pay for itself again.

Another issue is the durability of this stereotypically fragile glass. Did you guys know we have been making bullet proof glass the 1920s! Making glass hard is nothing new. 80,000 pounds is the maximum legal limit for a semi-truck. However, they decided to shoot for 250,000 pounds, which in their tests they have been able to go far beyond that. And they are still only on their prototype phase. Think how much stronger this will be with more funding after it’s finalized.

Oh and since it is glass it will be slippery to drive on, thus making it not safe. WRONG! This special hard glass uses raised hexagons which designed for highway use and can stop a car going 80-mph on a WET surface.

Now for the issue of storing that extra power. The current prototype uses "virtual storage", meaning that any excess energy is placed back to the grid during daylight hours and then can be drawn back out of the grid at night. However, they can also add any current or future energy storage devices to the system later on, since this is a modular system.

B-b-bu-but, the dirtiness, and the cars on the road blocking sunlight??? This isn't even a big deal. The fast nature of our moving vehicles keeps it cleaner than you think. In a really filthy test the solar panel only lost 9% efficiency. Also, skid marks actually come off really easy on glass, the next car that will drive over it will remove most of the mark. Worst case scenario we’ll replace snow plows with street cleaners. Plus since it is an intelligent system it can notify a central office of which spots have been dirty for a while, which will remove randomly scheduled unnecessary cleanings. As for the cars covering up the roads, I want you to go to Google Maps and find a road that has “bumper to bumper” traffic. You’ll notice there is actually a lot of visible road exposed to the sun, which according to the creator is more than enough.

If you have more questions then visit the link below, I got most the answers from there.

http://www.solarroadways.com/faq.shtml#index

Because that is a 100% accurate source that is totally impartial and has nothing to gain from the entire nation adopting the product they own the rights to.

If you watch videos of this guy you can tell he is clearly not in it for the money... He cares more about going green and changing the world for better. And you really don't have to be a genius to figure out he is telling the truth.

It's been around for years that glass can be very durable. Putting traction on the glass causes friction thus making cars stop faster.

I can go on, but I bet all you read is blah blah blah. And won't even give two thoughts about it.

k babe