Solar Freakin' Roadways

[Mr. Laz]

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[beach tribe]

Oil companies haven't bought this yet?
They will if it ever starts to take off and there is still black gold under the ground.
It will be loooong time before you see anything like this, and they should already be laying the shit.

[Chief_For_Life58]

why would an oil company buy this?

[Gadzooks]

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/40/14/ab/4014abce9d7582e358c0ebc9c2165c9b.jpg

[Chief Roundup]

they should already be laying the shit.

This

[Chief Roundup]

why would an oil company buy this?

Not sure if serious or if my sarcasm meter is busted.

[BigMeatballDave]

Oil companies haven't bought this yet?
They will if it ever starts to take off and there is still black gold under the ground.
It will be loooong time before you see anything like this, and they should already be laying the shit.

They don't have to sell to an oil company.

[Donger]

Not sure if serious or if my sarcasm meter is busted.

These are PV panels. PV panels generate electricity. We use very little oil to generate electricity. We use mostly coal and natural gas.

[Chief_For_Life58]

These are PV panels. PV panels generate electricity. We use very little oil to generate electricity. We use mostly coal and natural gas.

this

[Chief Roundup]

These are PV panels. PV panels generate electricity. We use very little oil to generate electricity. We use mostly coal and natural gas.

The majority of highways in this country are made from oil based asphalt.
The amount of constant road construction, adding new highways, expanding current highways, and repaving of highways is a huge industry.
How much less fuel would be used if we didn't need any snow or ice removal on any of our highways?
The less natural gas we use to create electricity the longer the supplies will last to heat our homes and other possible uses.
BP and Exxon are in the top 10 of natural gas producing companies as well.

[Donger]

The majority of highways in this country are made from oil based asphalt.
The amount of constant road construction, adding new highways, expanding current highways, and repaving of highways is a huge industry.
How much less fuel would be used if we didn't need any snow or ice removal on any of our highways?
The less natural gas we use to create electricity the longer the supplies will last to heat our homes and other possible uses.
BP and Exxon are in the top 10 of natural gas producing companies as well.

I was just answering the question.

I'm all for this, if it's fiscally-viable, which I doubt.

[cmh6476]

I was just answering the question.

I'm all for this, if it's fiscally-viable, which I doubt.

I think we need to start using brick again, we still have some solid brick streets around here.

[Pepe Silvia]

So in the future there will be moose in the streets?

[Chief Roundup]

I was just answering the question.

I'm all for this, if it's fiscally-viable, which I doubt.

Good so am I and most people are I think, but not big oil business. BP and Exxon will as always want to protect their future. They can protect their natural gas resources and sales as well as be a leader in the changing future.
Still wonder how many hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel is necessary for cleaning of the highways, parking lots and so on in this country every year.

[Chief Roundup]

These are PV panels. PV panels generate electricity. We use very little oil to generate electricity. We use mostly coal and natural gas.

I though that the government passed legislation that we are suppose to be slowing closing all of our coal plants in the nearest future as possible.

[Chief Roundup]

So in the future there will be moose in the streets?

Better get a bigger brush guard for the vehicle.

[cmh6476]

hopefully moose will be on the street sooner than later

[GloucesterChief]

Seems pretty cool if the panels can do everything that the video says they can do. Of course some places these would be more useful than others. I am not seeing much use in say the Pacific Northwest but the everywhere else looks like a good idea if it is cost effective.

[Whosurdaddy]

Asphalt is a waste material of the refining process. This is a shitty idea for a lot of reasons.

[Bugeater]

Hilarious.

[Captain Obvious]

Asphalt is a waste material of the refining process. This is a shitty idea for a lot of reasons.

Go on.....

[Whosurdaddy]

Go on.....

1. There is already a problem with hobos stealing copper, what do you think would happen on roads paved with rare earth metals and large amounts of silver.


2. Glass is relatively soft compared to rock or drift. Dirty Road tires will grind over whatever bumpiness the try and add to the surface for traction and make it smooth. Cars are dirty, oil and dirt will collect on the surface of those plates and reduce efficiency making it work worse over time.


3. Glass has a very different creep because of it's linear thermal expansion properties. That's why in the video they posted the array's spaced in hexagonal expansion setup for the moment with temperature. Imagine feeling like you are driving over a bridge's expansion joints forever.http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/BridgeExpansionJoint.jpg


4. The idea that they would be able to melt snow on the surface of the roadway is hilariously terrible. It's impossible.


5. The led lights being at all visible during the daytime is impossible. You can't really paint over a solar array either. Reflective paints are actually a really efficient way to do things.


6. I'm not an EE, but the energy gathered would be largely wasted unless they built a fairly sophisticated AC system to step up the Voltage to move it and step it down to use it. This would need to be done for every road in america.

I can see it being kind of useful on a sidewalk in a really busy area, but it's a shit idea on roads and parking lots.

[RedDread]

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[mikeyis4dcats.]

this is dumb.

[ChiTown]

I was just answering the question.

I'm all for this, if it's fiscally-viable, which I doubt.

It's not even remotely affordable. This is just complete bullshit.

[ModSocks]

The amount of attention this has received is impressive. This the 4th repost here on CP alone and i've seen it in several other forums i visit.

With that said, it doesn't seem all that viable for roads, but i think it would be a great idea for recreational areas or driveways. Maybe Sidewalks?