Solar FREAKIN' roadways discussion

[Stargate525]

6 hours ago, Spaceception said:

I think it's worth it, but instead of embedding solar cells into the road, how about you build a canopy of solar panels above the road? Where you not only have plenty of power for both lights and digital speed limit signs, but also for extra power for the city or town that the road is near.

At least in my area, there's a pretty good reason for it: Snow. Get a big enough fall, and you'll be in serious risk of collapsing the entire structure. Reinforce it to prevent that, and now you're essentially talking about building all roads enclosed in a shed. It'll cut visibility, you'll need to make them big enough to accomodate trucks and wide loads (in residential areas, that'll mean encroaching a good three to five feet into peoples' property and in ag areas they'll need to be able to clear farm equipment).

If you want to use 'wasted' space, stick em in the medians of highways with breakaway structure, the insides of cloverleafs, and bolted onto the sound barriers in urbanized areas. Plenty of dead room there without having to multipurpose something like a road.

[lugge]

Didn't read the whole topic.

Can someone please explain why this is better than just putting solar panels onto some rooftops?

[Shpaget]

It's not.

It's 2 - 6 times more expensive per watt installed.

An experimental system (a bicycle path) showed us that panels are susceptible to breakage and water ingress.

They produce only around 50% energy compared to rooftop installations, for the same power installed.

There has been no documented test to show us how such panels behave under traffic (heavy loads, emergency braking, tire grip on wet surface, wear and tear, dirt and grime obstructing the sun...

If you want some good math behind this, watch the EEVBlog videos by Dave Jones. He's made a couple of them on the subject, every one involving a huge facepalm.

Edited February 15, 2016 by Shpaget

[Streetwind]

1 hour ago, lugge said:

Didn't read the whole topic.

Can someone please explain why this is better than just putting solar panels onto some rooftops?

The main argument is the sheer amount of surface dedicated to roads and walkways. The world has so much surface tied up in those that if you used it for solar power generation, we'd have all but solved all energy problems.

Of course, like many noble ideas, it doesn't actually work that way in practice.

[fredinno]

On 6/27/2014 at 0:34 AM, Aghanim said:

Thunderf00t creates another video:

 

It will be highly appreciated if someone do a real demonstration of this solar roadways thingy. Either the skeptics or the supporters.

EDIT: After watching Thunderf00t videos, Youtube suggest me this:

The Amazing Atheist Popular channel you might like

Wait, WTF? Did you just link a video about Anita Sarkessian on a thread about SOLAR ROADWAYS?

BTW, Anita is an idiot, I see no problem with calling her out.

[YNM]

How dangerous is glass + oil spill + tyre ? The last thing I want on the (was asphalt) road is massive oil (lubricants mostly) spill... Fell off motorcycle by one of those, luckily I had braked so it was low speed and nobody was behind. Would glass make it worser ?

[SargeRho]

3 hours ago, YNM said:

How dangerous is glass + oil spill + tyre ? The last thing I want on the (was asphalt) road is massive oil (lubricants mostly) spill... Fell off motorcycle by one of those, luckily I had braked so it was low speed and nobody was behind. Would glass make it worser ?

A lot worse. With glass splinters flying everywhere.

[magnemoe]

4 hours ago, Streetwind said:

The main argument is the sheer amount of surface dedicated to roads and walkways. The world has so much surface tied up in those that if you used it for solar power generation, we'd have all but solved all energy problems.

Of course, like many noble ideas, it doesn't actually work that way in practice.

Yes, idea makes some sense in theory, in practice or just second thought not so much. Expensive, hard to maintain, and get dirty easy is main problems compared to standard roof panels.
 

[pxi]

14 hours ago, fredinno said:

Wait, WTF? Did you just link a video about Anita Sarkessian on a thread about SOLAR ROADWAYS?

BTW, Anita is an idiot, I see no problem with calling her out.

What actually happened is they linked to a playlist of Thunderf00t's videos.  You're seeing the latest video in that playlist.

[Bill Phil]

Solar has limitations that mean it's inly really useful in certain situations, and this would be worse.

Replacing current roads, adding costs to roads, adding electrical lines to roads, the shadows of cars, the shade of other objects like trees, etc all on top of the problems with solar, like limits based on weather. Makes no sense.

[fredinno]

2 hours ago, pxi said:

What actually happened is they linked to a playlist of Thunderf00t's videos.  You're seeing the latest video in that playlist.

Ah. Thanks.

[Stargate525]

20 hours ago, Streetwind said:

The main argument is the sheer amount of surface dedicated to roads and walkways. The world has so much surface tied up in those that if you used it for solar power generation, we'd have all but solved all energy problems.

Of course, like many noble ideas, it doesn't actually work that way in practice.

I also love the implied notion that roadways are somehow wasted space, as if the major arteries that keep entire continents fed and clothed and powered somehow need a secondary function to truly be useful.

[Xeorm]

1 hour ago, Stargate525 said:

I also love the implied notion that roadways are somehow wasted space, as if the major arteries that keep entire continents fed and clothed and powered somehow need a secondary function to truly be useful.

Or, even better, that we haven't used it in other spaces that were better choices. Not everyone's house is layered with solar panels yet. Until then...not much point to do it in roads, or over road,s or any other such shenanigans.

[Stargate525]

9 hours ago, Xeorm said:

Or, even better, that we haven't used it in other spaces that were better choices. Not everyone's house is layered with solar panels yet. Until then...not much point to do it in roads, or over road,s or any other such shenanigans.

I've actually looked at getting them for my house. unfortunately, my house's roof angles east/west, so they're a REALLY inefficient idea for me.

[The Yellow Dart]

While solar freakin' roadways probably isn't the best idea, I do feel like any where that the highway has overhead lights (all over most large cities), they should just replace the lights with a tall T-shaped solar panel mount that also has the lights built into it. After all, the power lines are obviously already there, it just make sense to me.