Solar Freakin' Roadways

[Mr. Laz]

[Chief Roundup]

Originally Posted by PackerinMo

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]

Originally Posted by Whosurdaddy

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

Go on.....

[Whosurdaddy]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious

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.


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]

[mikeyis4dcats.]

this is dumb.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by Donger

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.

[ToxSocks]

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?