Solar Roadways

[MR E30 325is]

I am glad most of you see the ridiculousness of this idea.

Been debating with a couple of non-engineering buddies who have fallen to the hype of "OMG such awesomeness!" that the internet is cooking up.

Space to place solar panels is not even on the list of current problems with harnessing energy from the sun.

[Northern]

Posted this elsewhere:

Only made it to 4 minutes, but it sounds even less possible once they start talking about how they light up and all have microchips/electronics to sense and be "smart". Not sure how many billions it would cost to make enough of these to cover a road, but solar is expensive enough that they would take decades to pay themselves back; before you even factor in all the non-solar extras/"green" manufacturing methods they're adding to it, or the rate of failure/maintenance requirements.

Also not a fan of other aspects of the video, but meh.

[lambo]

I seriously can't wait to see someone wearing one of their indigogo t shirts so I can laugh.

[george graves]

My most irksome moment this week was when someone asked....."Why do people hate on great ideas like solar freaking road ways?" They wanted to know why some people are so against it. "just let it happen! - don't block it! Support it! It a great idea!!!"

"WHY ALL THE HATE?!????????"

All I know is that I was forced to take art, and history classes. I can tell you all about the first cave painting, and name most modern art by name, and artist, and year.

With that said....Most people I know don't know what PV=nRT is. Or what y=mx+b is when it comes to anything in the real world.

Solar-freaking-what???? How about we teach science in the classroom!

I know some people don't care a rats ass about science and tech...that's fine.....but don't you want your city/stare/fed/reps to know a thing or two about science....??? Before they spend all that money on something that is a scam?

[chadthestampede]

A fool and his money are soon parted

[E30 Wagen]

I just think about all the Wal-Marts, Targets, McDonald's, Lowes, Home Depots, Best Buys, malls, highschools, office buildings, and other huge expansive buildings - how many acres do all these buildings take up? How many of these roofs have unobstructed exposure to the sky? Just imagine if these huge corporations would start reinvesting their millions of revenue into covering their roofs with solar panels.

[george graves]

I just think about all the Wal-Marts, Targets, McDonald's, Lowes, Home Depots, Best Buys, malls, highschools, office buildings, and other huge expansive buildings - how many acres do all these buildings take up? How many of these roofs have unobstructed exposure to the sky? Just imagine if these huge corporations would start reinvesting their millions of revenue into covering their roofs with solar panels.

If you combined all the Wal-Marts, Targets, McDonald's, ect in the world, it would be less than 1% of the roofs compared to all the typical homes. Go to goole earth, zoom out, and see if you can spot a walmart. You can't. It's all houses.e

[Gary Horneck]

Imagine this... Imagine if we took all the money we waste defending our oil interests in the Middle East, and used those dollars in a massive, country wide, solar panel building operation. Gear up like we did to support the war effort during WWII. Throw in some solar/steam generating plants in the SW, wind farms in the midwest, some tidal power generation systems on the East Coast, and maybe we could give the finger to the entire Middle East.

[dirty30]

Fucking stupid idea probably cooked up in the same think tank that brought you the lunar elevator and self driving cars. I second the idea that was posted on the first page that solar arrays should be on every rooftop in the country, I'm not talking about covering entire roofs but hell even a small one can make a difference. BUT NOTHING is going to change until there is a real energy crisis, for crisis precipitates change. Energy is still cheap, people are still going to leave lights on in every room in their houses when theyre not home and commute to work by themselves in their suburbans.

[mrsleeve]

Imagine this... Imagine if we took all the money we waste defending our oil interests in the Middle East, and used those dollars in a massive, country wide, solar panel building operation. Gear up like we did to support the war effort during WWII. Throw in some solar/steam generating plants in the SW, wind farms in the midwest, some tidal power generation systems on the East Coast, and maybe we could give the finger to the entire Middle East.

hahahahhaahaha you have no idea what your talking about LOL this one of the best laughs of the thread.

[E30 Wagen]

If you combined all the Wal-Marts, Targets, McDonald's, ect in the world, it would be less than 1% of the roofs compared to all the typical homes. Go to goole earth, zoom out, and see if you can spot a walmart. You can't. It's all houses.e

Nevertheless, these vast corporations are in the best position to take advantage of and have the greatest impact by adopting solar energy. The buildings they occupy consume the most electricity and they have greater means to absorb investment costs. An investment in solar energy by a huge corporation is going to be a far smaller percentage of their income compared to a single household. I bet costs will be considerably lower since they'll be purchasing in bulk, and of course there are tax incentives. It would also be good for their image.

There are 35,000 McD's, Best Buy stores cover over 55,000,000 sqft, Wal-Marts cover over 600,000,000 sqft, Targets over 200,000,000 sqft, Home Depots over 230,000,000 sqft. And of course there are other large retailers, businesses, and manufacturers occupying huge commercial buildings throughout the country - for example, CBL properties, which manages a huge shopping mall near me, has over 84,000,000 square feet of buildings. So, there are essentially billions of square feet of commercial rooftops not being utilized for solar energy collection.

http://www.solar-estimate.org/?page=solar-calculations

[DER E30]

Wouldn't driving on glass be like an ice rink when its raining?

[10Toes]

Wouldn't driving on glass be like an ice rink when its raining?

No they add a texture to it. It will be the loudest/bumpiest fucking road you have ever driven on.

[DER E30]

No they add a texture to it. It will be the loudest/bumpiest fucking road you have ever driven on.

But can I slideways on texture?

Tire manufactures would have to reengineer their whole tire lineup for new surface + the texture. Then we'd have to ALL get new tires...

Edit: Wonder if glass on steel makes pretty sparks like scraping frame on pavement and concrete...?

[M-technik-3]

We can't keep our simple paved roads together and in good shape HOW in pray tell could we have something as complex as electric roads.

Great laugh.