Repost? Solar Freakin' Roadways

[SnorkBoard]

Pretty cool stuff coming out of my home town

 

[SnorkBoard]

I forget how to embed

 

[jpastor]

did a research project on solar roadways last year, coolest shit i have seen in a long time

 

[Ducky.]

Bump for stoke. It's a long way from being reality, but the positive long term implications of this are astounding.

 

[arnie_grape]

 

[arnie_grape]

Bump for stoke. It's a long way from being reality, but the positive long term implications of this are astounding.

yeah I'm pretty excited by this idea too.

I haven't watched the video or read anything about it yet but this sounds super duper expensive. on the flip side, when you think of all the square footage of every highway and every road, imagine what could be produced if they were all solar panels.

 

[a_pla5tic_bag]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/scientists-politely-remind-world-that-clean-energy,36086/

onion is lolz.

 

[arnie_grape]

i just watched the video this looks pretty neat.

but still looks really expensive. and I'm curious as to how durable they are. im tempered glass can withstand cars and animals walking all over it, but will hoodrats be able to smash them with hammers?

hopefully one day

 

[LoathesRaisins]

Hopefully this becomes a reality.

 

[Rusticles]

Sounds great, but what happens at night? No longer producing electricity, they'll need on board batteries or use grid power, also you will need larger batteries to power the grid when it's needed

 

[eheath]

I was apprehensive at first about traction, especially with snow but of course they're heated to above freezing... geneus.

 

[cobra_commander]

Anyone who has driven though a western mountain pass in summer can see the stupidity of this idea.

Maybe on some low mileage roads in the the SW this could have potential, but it will be a long time before this can work on a road that sees heavy traffic. How well do they take repeated exposure to semi's rolling over them? How expensive is it to replace the broken tiles?

 

[SnorkBoard]

Anyone who has driven though a western mountain pass in summer can see the stupidity of this idea.

Maybe on some low mileage roads in the the SW this could have potential, but it will be a long time before this can work on a road that sees heavy traffic. How well do they take repeated exposure to semi's rolling over them? How expensive is it to replace the broken tiles?

I think at this point the main market will be private driveways and sidewalks, obviously there are a few things that would need to worked out in order to make it a large scale thing like the video suggests. It's basically still a prototype, but once some of the bugs are worked out and more innovations are made, it seems somewhat viable.

The first telephones were shit but now we carry little computers in our pockets.

 

[TOAST.]

unless they hold up better than current road materials, i dont really see it working. Current roads are pretty shitty and always being repaired.

For driveways and sidewalks it would be cool though.

 

[Mr.Huck]

I was apprehensive at first about traction, especially with snow but of course they're heated to above freezing... geneus.

I'm not convinced yet. Think about heated drive ways and all the problems people have if the drainage isn't perfect. If it's dumping hard the heated panels may not be able to keep up. What happens if you are forced to drive a plow over it? I'm not saying they couldn't work out these issues, but there would be a lot of work and $$$ involved.

 

[liftedresearcher]

im sure the big oil boys down in Houston will have something to say about this. oil money runs the economy, its not that easy just to replace the roads with solar panels and save the world.

it would be great if it proves to be a feasible idea. as an electrician, i would love to get a hold of some of these and test them on my sidewalk or driveway. i could make a fucking fortune installing them too.

 

[shocker611]

Honestly I think there is a future here. If they, instead of using little octagons, used the flexible solar technology that is getting really good, you could make huge rollers (like giant plastic wrap rolls) of solar "tape" that you could pretty much roll over the existing roadways or sidewalks, then possibly cover them with additional support (like the glass), meaning that you wouldn't have to lay entirely new roadways with tedious little building blocks, but could instead simply roll the solar technology onto the roads. If I remember correctly, these panels are super impact resistant so you may not even need to put a covering on top of the panels.