Solar Roadways

[GottaTri]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H901KdXgHs4

This should help explain how silly of an idea this is. Concept, neat idea. Engineering implementation, utterly foolish.

 

[klamath632]

It will simply be 100 times too expensive to actually be a benefit.

There is plenty of land for solar that won't require the shutting down of roadways for extended periods of time during construction.

I wish this would be feasible but it just doesn't make sense. It sounds cool though.

^^^ Energy Production Industry Lobbyist

 

[Rhoadhoused]

^^^ Energy Production Industry Lobbyist

Lol you caught me.

 

[LivntheCyLife]

This seems really silly to me. I just can't see how combining roads and solar panels is cheaper than building roads and solar panels separately. It seems even solar panels in road ditches would work better than this. You could tilt the panels to face the sun, not interrupt traffic for maintenance, not worry about a coating that's durable enough for cars but lets light through, etc.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H901KdXgHs4

This should help explain how silly of an idea this is. Concept, neat idea. Engineering implementation, utterly foolish.

Summary:

Traction of the road is actually questionable, especially in wet conditions.

Glass wears smooth very quickly, making traction even worse.

Roadways made of tiles crack easily, and tiles come loose after continuous use.

99% of asphalt is already made of recycled material, which is a big reason why it is so cheap and widely used.

Just the cost of the glass is $20 trillion, without any of the technology or other BS.

Would have to totally rework the power line system to fit the type of energy created by solar panels.

The light pollution from the LED lights would be pretty bad.

The LEDs can't be seen in the day so none of those lines or road markings could be seen 50% of the time.

Parking lots are full of cars during the day, blocking the sunlight. And are empty at night.



I'm about halfway through. I'll keep updating if needed haha.

The snow melting thing is total ********, the energy costs don't add up. It takes way to much energy to melt snow. Not to mention the north gets little solar energy as it is, plus it is snowing and cloudy.

Solar panels will get covered in dirt and oil, which blocks light and wears down glass, which is a very soft material. That makes the glass slicker and less clear. Both bad.

It's a much better idea just to build next to roads or even cover the roads and put panels on top of that.

 

[Boxerdaddy]

It will simply be 100 times too expensive to actually be a benefit.

There is no way computers will ever be useful or economically viable for the public. I mean...they'll need a whole house to store it. Computers will never work for the consumer.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

There is no way computers will ever be useful or economically viable for the public. I mean...they'll need a whole house to store it. Computers will never work for the consumer.

We'll all have flying cars and moon colonies by the year 2000.

 

[ISUCubswin]

It costs too much to ever be implemented, but at the same time, would pay itself off. You'd never need snow plows/drivers, and there would be 100x less construction on roads, as the only issue would be replacing one panel with another.

Overall, the idea would work perfectly but will never have the funding to make it work. It would be nice to see it start in a small community and grow, but I'm not sure what small community would want to take the risk.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

It costs too much to ever be implemented, but at the same time, would pay itself off. You'd never need snow plows/drivers, and there would be 100x less construction on roads, as the only issue would be replacing one panel with another.

Overall, the idea would work perfectly but will never have the funding to make it work. It would be nice to see it start in a small community and grow, but I'm not sure what small community would want to take the risk.

It couldn't possibly get the energy itself to melt snow off of it and there's a reason roads aren't made of tile already. It's not as good.

And it wouldn't pay for itself. It would have to produce like 60 trillion dollars.

 

[ISUCubswin]

It couldn't possibly get the energy itself to melt snow off of it and there's a reason roads aren't made of tile already. It's not as good.

And it wouldn't pay for itself. It would have to produce like 60 trillion dollars.

I think eventually it would pay itself off. Would I do it? No. But it's a cool idea.

 

[brianhos]

It could be useful in some areas, but it would cost $56 trillion to cover all of the current road surfaces. That's trillion, with a T.

But think about all the jobs!

 

[Rhoadhoused]

I think eventually it would pay itself off. Would I do it? No. But it's a cool idea.

So let's say this thing costs $60 trillion to be conservative. (It's $20 trillion just for the glass alone, not including labor to install, all of the electronics, LEDs, power grids, amount of rare minerals needed, ect)

How the hell are you going to make up $60 trillion?

Exxon Mobile is only worth about $.5 trillion TOTAL.

The largest oil companies in the world make well under $100 billion per year from what I can tell from some light googling.


There is absolutely no way it would ever pay for itself by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[brianhos]

So let's say this thing costs $60 trillion to be conservative. (It's $20 trillion just for the glass alone, not including labor to install, and of the electronics, LEDs, power grids, ect)

How the hell are you going to make up $60 trillion?

Exxon Mobile is only worth about $.5 trillion TOTAL.

The largest oil companies in the world make well under $100 billion per year from what I can tell from some light googling.


There is absolutely no way it would ever pay for itself by any stretch of the imagination.

Green energy never works when you rationalize it. It is exciting when you treat it like a religion instead.

 

[CyFan61]

Green energy never works when you rationalize it. It is exciting when you treat it like a religion instead.

Here comes the politics... By a mod, no less

 

[cyguytillidie]

I think its a pretty neat idea.
Likely still needs a bunch of work to perfect the product.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

Here comes the politics... By a mod, no less

Regardless of politics, that's the only way to rationalize support of this specific idea.

 

[Boxerdaddy]

This idea is obviously in its infancy so at this time makes no sense. But I think we'll see these "smart" materials in the future. I've always thought it would be great idea to do away with shingles and have solar materials replace them... Just my idea

 

[Rhoadhoused]

This idea is obviously in its infancy so at this time makes no sense. But I think we'll see these "smart" materials in the future. I've always thought it would be great idea to do away with shingles and have solar materials replace them... Just my idea

Solar on roofs is an infinitely better idea. That's why people have been doing it since solar was invented. I not sure they're are any cost benefits to combining then worth shingles because shingles are (relatively) cheap. You might as well just lay shingles and put panel's on top.

 

[KezClone]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H901KdXgHs4

This should help explain how silly of an idea this is. Concept, neat idea. Engineering implementation, utterly foolish.

Thank you, I don't have to repost this link.

It's a moronic implementation.

 

[cstrunk]

Obviously it's a new technology that has huge obstacles to overcome, namely cost, but as with any technology it becomes cheaper in time as it is improved. And no one is going to spend $60 trillion now to implement it on everyhighway right now but it could get tested in smaller settings, like driveways and bridges that are susceptible it icing. The coolest part of it all is that it could be used for many different purposes. Obviously the solar electricity produced would not be the only potential benefit.

We need to think outside of the box withideas like this to address our world's biggest problems.