Solar Freaking Roadways

[wendelclark17]

They could be on to something here

[Pengwin7]

As an engineer... all I have to say is... EFFIN BEAUTY BRILLIANT INVENTION!!! LOVE... LOVE... LOVE.

As a realist... and recent lover of "Shark TanK" (just found this show)... I figure this would go on Shark Tank something like this:

Sharks: "So, what is this going to cost the average taxpayer?".
Engineer: "Well... right now... there are X amount of roadways in North America and Y amount of taxpayers. We calculate that if everybody pays an extra 20% of their income for the 30 years, we can solar roadway all of North America."
Sharks: "Did you say an extra 20%?"
Engineer: "Give or take..."
Shark1: "I'm out."
Shark2: "I'm out."
Shark3: "I'm out."
Shark4: "I'm out."
Shark5: "Have you run this by the government yet?"
Engineer: "Yes."
Shark5: "And what did they say?"
Engineer: "They granted us funding to continue some research and market it."
Shark5: "Market it to who?"
Engineer: "The general public... with this YouTube clip and a few others."
Shark5: (smile)... "I'm out."

[letangerang58]

The costs associated with implementing this would be astronomical. Also, if the road gets dirty then the panels lose some of their effectiveness. Also, how easy is it to plow these roads? I know with permeable roads you really need someone good with a snow plow or they'll just dig up the whole road. I know that it does have some capacity to melt the snow but in some cases the snowfall could outpace this capacity. In such cases would the panels be damaged by snow plows? I'm not against solar in anyway but i think the solution for the future of energy is more along the lines of solar panels on top of buildings and individual homes with their power sold back into the grid to supplement a network or wind, nuclear, and some coal energy (coal energy using the best technology available to reduce its impact to a bare minimum).

[letangerang58]

I think I read a post on I ****ing Love Science that said that the guy ran the numbers for this and the cost for replacing all of the roads in the US with these solar panels was going to be several trillion dollars.

[Loch]

If they start in sunny (winter-free) areas and slowly expand they may be able to address some of the cost/winter issues as they go. Gotta figure the cost/benefit of this is better in Arizona than Manitoba...

I'd worry about weigh on existing bridges with this stuff... and also the movement of the ground when freezing/thawing.

Cool idea though.

[jcairns]

The costs associated with implementing this would be astronomical. Also, if the road gets dirty then the panels lose some of their effectiveness. Also, how easy is it to plow these roads? I know with permeable roads you really need someone good with a snow plow or they'll just dig up the whole road. I know that it does have some capacity to melt the snow but in some cases the snowfall could outpace this capacity. In such cases would the panels be damaged by snow plows? I'm not against solar in anyway but i think the solution for the future of energy is more along the lines of solar panels on top of buildings and individual homes with their power sold back into the grid to supplement a network or wind, nuclear, and some coal energy (coal energy using the best technology available to reduce its impact to a bare minimum).

Yeah, it won't happen. But you are right, the future of energy will be some mix of renewables with nuclear and coal (with carbon capture and storage technology).

Electric vehicles will fit into this picture as they operate as storage for renewable energy. People will permit the utility to provide them with a "guaranteed minimum charge" (e.g. you will have at least 80% of a full battery in the morning), which gives the utility greater flexibility to use renewables. For doing the guaranteed minimum charge households will get some sort of discount on their electricity bill. It's pretty cool stuff!

But yeah, as cool as this invention is it just won't work. Similar to how we have the technology to have wireless-charging roads that have magnets fitted beneath the pavement and are able to charge electric vehicles as they drive over. They actually aren't that expensive, but it means retrofitting roads which costs mucho dinero. Not to mention it would not produce high levels of electricity for 1 reason already mentioned (can get dirty) and for a second reason: it's a road! Lots of roadways are shaded due to tree-cover or buildings, and cars being on top of it will also prevent solar radiation from hitting them.

[newfcollins]

Instead of doing every single road, why not start on new roads? There's always new community developments, so they could start there, and then slowly put them on current roads when those roads need to be replaced anyways.

Starting on new roads in new communities would also be a good test pilot project for it. If you put them in on 20 blocks in a new subdivision, it would be a good test to see how well they stand up to every day traffic, snow plows, etc.

[One87]

They could be on to something here

I heard about this, maybe 10 years ago. Solar powered vehicles, BOOM! May be a good way to minimize the fear of an EMP being sent to cripple a country.

[Pengwin7]

^I was actually hoping the article was about glow-in-the-dark moose shoes.
I was a bit upset when it wasn't.

[Axeman33]

Great idea but what happens with pot-holes? LOL! God knows we have enough of them up my way. Its like a freakin obstacle course driving on my roads.

[letangerang58]

Great idea but what happens with pot-holes? LOL! God knows we have enough of them up my way. Its like a freakin obstacle course driving on my roads.

I don't think potholes would be an issue. I'm not exactly certain what causes potholes but my guess would be that it has something to do with water entering the pores in concrete and asphalt and eroding a portion of the material resulting in a hole. even if thats not the case i still think the materials are so different that potholes wouldn't occur.

[als_revenge]

I think I read a post on I ****ing Love Science that said that the guy ran the numbers for this and the cost for replacing all of the roads in the US with these solar panels was going to be several trillion dollars.

If the science is credible, my guess is that American (or other) ingenuity will figure out a way to bring the cost down over time. One would also have to consider not just the costs, but the benefits of all the energy that is being produced. If anything, it's a very interesting idea and I could see this sort of thing starting off with individuals trying this out for private roads / drive-ways / parking lots, etc.

There might be a market or marketing opportunity just the novelty of something like this...Being the first (or one of the first) with something like this....I'm sure there's somebody smart and creative out there that can find a way to make money off this...

[Loch]

New subdivisions seem like a logical fit... reasonably light travel, all new roads, small area. At least as a trial project it merits consideration.

[letangerang58]

If the science is credible, my guess is that American (or other) ingenuity will figure out a way to bring the cost down over time. One would also have to consider not just the costs, but the benefits of all the energy that is being produced. If anything, it's a very interesting idea and I could see this sort of thing starting off with individuals trying this out for private roads / drive-ways / parking lots, etc.

There might be a market or marketing opportunity just the novelty of something like this...Being the first (or one of the first) with something like this....I'm sure there's somebody smart and creative out there that can find a way to make money off this...

If people considered all of the costs and benefits of their actions then we wouldn't all still be driving cars which ran on gasoline and using power derived from fossil fuels and we would be using wind and solar energy a lot more. The fact is that people don't care about the benefits all they will see is the enormous bill and complain about how its a waste of taxpayer money. The prices associated with solar and wind power have both decreased since they were first invented but the vast majority of our energy still comes from fossil fuels just because it is so much cheaper. The problem is that companies who use fossil fuels to generate energy don't pay for all costs associated with generating that energy but its difficult to make them pay for the pollution they generate because its hard to put a price tag on the affects of that pollution.

Another thing to consider is that if the government ever wanted to do something like this it would create an enormous backlash from pretty much every energy producer in the country. Probably even the solar and wind people. It all takes away from their businesses and at the end of the day it would be hard to have this energy system privately owned. It would have to be run by the government and people would have to buy that energy from the government and that's something that a lot of people would be immediately suspicious of even though it would probably be cheaper to buy this energy from the government than a business who is focused on profits.

[theIceWookie]

Yeah, it won't happen. But you are right, the future of energy will be some mix of renewables with nuclear and coal (with carbon capture and storage technology).

Electric vehicles will fit into this picture as they operate as storage for renewable energy. People will permit the utility to provide them with a "guaranteed minimum charge" (e.g. you will have at least 80% of a full battery in the morning), which gives the utility greater flexibility to use renewables. For doing the guaranteed minimum charge households will get some sort of discount on their electricity bill. It's pretty cool stuff!

But yeah, as cool as this invention is it just won't work. Similar to how we have the technology to have wireless-charging roads that have magnets fitted beneath the pavement and are able to charge electric vehicles as they drive over. They actually aren't that expensive, but it means retrofitting roads which costs mucho dinero. Not to mention it would not produce high levels of electricity for 1 reason already mentioned (can get dirty) and for a second reason: it's a road! Lots of roadways are shaded due to tree-cover or buildings, and cars being on top of it will also prevent solar radiation from hitting them.

It's really a shame because the idea is ingenious. It's just a classic case of path dependency.

Roads are some of the biggest infrastructure money pits. They take up a gigantic amount of resources and have zero actual return value outside of getting people and things places.