Solar Roads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nvWTaqUvsfA







Heats the road for ice, is very rough for traction, can withstand heavy trucks falling on it, lights up for the road lines, can put warnings on it, etc.

Discuss.

 

This is actually an awesome idea, but technology can only go so far and I can only see faults, after faults happening with it rather than total change.
It's like people are trying to create a hands free car, I think they're taking steps too far as SO many things can go wrong. They need to take a step back and fix what's already in front of them.

 

It's like trying to end world hunger: Sure, it's possible, but it's completely unrealistic.

^http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/solar-panel-highway2.htm

 

I've seen this idea a millions times in the past 5 years, people forget that it would be extremely costly to maintain these roads. If they are dusty, it will cause a big decrease in power output. Furthermore, you would need an extremely tough glass which is hard wearing and will resist weathering and well as impact. It would be a better idea to build them using plastic.

 

I remember seeing something like this on world-star they they were planing to do in japan i believe it was.

 

I can see people walking/stepping those and getting hurt. Needs to be looked into a little more...

 

It's a great idea. However repairs for that would cost a fortune and the installation itself would cost tax payers waaay too much.
I could see it in the future maybe. But not any time soon (20 years being soon)

 

Yes the initial cost could be quite steep, but imagine the amount of money saved when it powers all buildings around it, commercial and residential. There's just so many benefits that could easily get the money back. Of course, it all depends on how good the panels are and if they can really power the buildings.

The other really cool thing is how it would melt all snow/ice in the winter. I don't know about you guys, but I think that's really badass, it would save many lives.

 

It would also save a lot of money in car damage, overtime the salt we use to melt the ice currently, rusts out our panels and undercarriage and can cause serious issues. Positive to the solar panels is less ware and tear, maybe even bring down insurance rates.

 

yea... i don't see this working out, heads post pretty much sums it all up.


i mean whats wrong with our current roads? they don't even use energy rofl?

 

Bring down insurance rates, yeah thats comical.

 

insurance rates go down....... ahahahahahaha

 

Seems like it would be incredibly costly. Roads are already in complete disrepair as it stands,

 

Wait, what? These roads would absorb energy, so it can power all buildings around it. That's a hell of a lot better than the current roads, that do nothing.

 

lol... you never used solar energy on a big scale them, i know a couple who got panels in their roof, they really don't save that much energy for the price.


it would take miles and miles of road to be able to power 1 household.

 

They laughed at Louis Armstrong when he said he was going to go to the moon. Now he's up there, laughing at them.

 

This would be amazing, I hope to see this in my lifetime.

 

Neil Armstrong...

 

Yeah since solar panels currently are only about 20% efficient at most I think. A square metre of sunlight contains about 600-1000 watts of energy, if the panel technology became about 50% efficient, then we would be onto something.

 

blades of glory *