Solar roads!

[ForcedFirebird]

Not in the real world.

Are you sure?

HP and TQ are related. Haven't you ever wondered why the graphs tend to cross somewhere around 5250 RPM?

550ft/lb of work in one second=1hp ;)

hp = (torque * RPM) / 5250

[Raxe]

Yes I'm sure, you stated torque is equal to rpm. Not sure why you're justifying it with the formula for calculating hp?

[Kerrath]

It's a good idea, but execution of it is a bad idea. This shit is sure to break all over the place. I don't care if it can support cars even heavy as hell ones. Glass may be as strong as steel until a car's wheel falls off while rolling and their rotor shatters the road. Not to mention the fact that LED tech is still not up to spec enough to unconditionally produce LEDs that never flicker or dim out due to out of spec electrode contacts. Last thing on that, it seems that they absolutely expect LEDs to outline crosswalks and lane markers. For most usages of LEDs, 100,000hrs of life is essentially unlimited... cars, laptops, etc. But for always-on use in ideal environments (not below 0 degrees or above 130) that only translates to a little over 10 years. So in 10 years, you have to tear out every road because the lane lines are disappearing. From a technical standpoint, yeah, it can be done, but realistically, it's in no way a feasible project.

How about instead of spending multi-millions of dollars per mile on the excessively intricate infrastructure of a fledgling technocracy, why don't we try to use a different means to improve other energy sources first, rather than trying to create an entirely foreign and ludicrously expensive project. My first thought is implanting some sort of copper heat pipes in already-existing roads to facilitate power generation in nuclear and solar plants through heat exchange. Maybe not feasibly either, but definitely less excessively radical.

[george graves]

Whop came up with the idea? HITLER?

[thornado327i]

There is one more issue:

The energy needs to be stored before it gets used. The batteries are a pain to produce, and even more pain to dispose of. That's what pisses me off about Europe. Everyone is so focused about "ecology" and "green energy" but no one pays attention that all these batteries (from Hybrids too BTW) will need to be disposed of later.

And we are not ready to take and recycle/dispose such number of batteries. It's just "let later generations to worry about" kind of thinking.

For all these green energy stuff nobody thinks of costs of disposal of used stuff, and the only way for it to be cost effective and non-polluting energy would be to direct it straight to the mains bypassing the storage.

[parkerbink]

I am in no way suggesting this will be done in the near future, I just think it is a good idea and deserves attention.

[ortholithiation]

What we really need is a breathrough in solar technology. Once we have something with a quantum efficiency of greater then 60% but can be mass produced and won't crap out after 5 years, the rest will follow.

Roads are stupid, roof tops are better. We already have a grid, just make it so that people would both give and take from the grid. People in sunnier areas could even make a little money doing this. We would still need oil/gas nuke plants to fill needs, but far far fewer.

With a surplus of energy, improvements in superconductors, hydrogen storage, and battery technology would also follow. It's not like we have to invent anything completely new, just make it much better.

I can tell you that research dollars in the chemistry world is being diverted from "It kills cancer" to "It saves the planet" right now.

[thornado327i]

I can tell you that research dollars in the chemistry world is being diverted from "It kills cancer" to "It saves the planet" right now.

Unfortunately before anything new hits the market, it goes through "will it generate profit" filter:
A. Yes it does! = go for it
B. No, but it saves the planet! = fuck it.

[mrsleeve]

Unfortunately before anything new hits the market, it goes through "will it generate profit" filter:
A. Yes it does! = go for it
B. No, but it saves the planet! = fuck it.

Right, thats how its supposed to work. and for the utility it will be asnwer A. Because our Govts (you know those of us that pay taxes) will subsidize the construction of such things, just like we do now with current Green tech Wind/Solar. Then govt's will tax the shit outta power to recoup some of that money when we buy the now Over abundant power thats supposed to be cheap.

So you get pay for it to go up with taxes, you get to Pay higher energy rates because its Green power there for gets a premium price, and then huge taxes on your energy to the govt on your power bill (just like gas is in europe) to make up for initial cost.

Tell me how this is a good Idea again from individual cash flpw stand point again????

[smurfs_182]

1. This is way to expensive.
2. Roads are made of mostly non renewable resources
3. Solar panels are made of non renewable resources as well, but the materials in solar panels are even rarer and more expensive

I just finished a Civil Engineering tech program and trust me this will never happen. The materials for road building have reached a peak and our methods refined.

Innovations such road insulation and road heating have already been developed but prove to expensive to justify building all roads with this technology.

LOL that was my intelligent rant for the day

[smurfs_182]

I am in no way suggesting this will be done in the near future, I just think it is a good idea and deserves attention.

it does not deserve any attention, the chemicals and other processes used in solar panels will end up be detrimental to our plane

[Wiglaf]

I'd be happy enough if half the traditional roads in my town were in decent shape, that in itself seems to be a tall order.

Distributed solar is not retarded. There's plenty of rooftops and open space to use, but as far as roads go it's just retarded to even try.

A different approach that uses a large black surface as the hot side of a heat pump would be a lot more feasable, but I still would reserve it for rooftops and areas that won't have trucks driving on it. Like ALL OF UTAH.

[honkey]

my city can't even fix a less complicated asphalt road, god help them if they had to fix a solar glass road. another thing to think about is if we had said solar roads all the workers would need to be engineers to a degree to work on it. what would happen to the work force already in place since most of them don't qualify?

i'm not saying it's a bad idea but it's very unrealistic.

[daniel]

uh, hello people! why hasn't anyone thought of a road made from wind turbines?!

[honkey]

i'm still waiting on my hover board. thanks for nothing marty mcfly!