Solar Roadways

If you google "solar roadways" then you will find a bunch of stuff on it. I think the bottom line is that it is a good idea, but not economically feasible, or practical, at this time.
 
You are right. I come from the electric industry. Sounds good but a pie in the sky. Unless technology makes huge strides, the output from solar is minute vs what is needed for the job they are saying it will do. Solar cells that cost several hundred dollars only have a few watts output. With today's technology, it would be impossible for one of the cells to produce enough electricity to heat itself much less to keep snow melted much less provide all the power for other tasks assigned in the video. Pie in the sky. Investment would make our national debt look small.
 
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America can't even keep normal asphalt from turning into a giant coast to coast pothole with occasional pavement at the moment, so I have my doubts. Then again, I haven't studied the numbers - even today, though, the cost for America to maintain roads is something like $125 billion a year and that's clearly not nearly enough from what I can gather, what with 70000 structurally deficient bridges at the moment and so on. There are some downsides to blowing over 50% of the federal budget on war-related activities.

It would be interesting to see numbers on how much this would affect maintenance. If repairing roads would be just a matter of quickly laying down fresh hexagonal solar roadway pieces, the savings over time plus the energy derived from them might actually work out to something usable.

Power itself can be had more sanely, like by building thermal solar powerplants in the deserts and piping the electricity to where it needs to go with high-voltage direct current super grids, but the side benefits of the solar roadways - melting roads clear, keeping walkways and such free of snow, laying down cable channels along every road to eliminate the utterly archaic air lines that America is still using (see "spending 50% of the federal budget on war related activities" again...)

Well, just because it initially seems very counter-intuitive and expensive doesn't have to mean it is. I'd have to see real numbers crunched on it.

Personally, I think the best (if sad for us riders) solutions for transportation into the future will be maglev rail, not roads at all. Much more efficient, faster and lower maintenance on the rail since the trains float over it, instead of grind down into it like vehicles do on roads.
 
You are missing the point I was trying to make. A solar cell the size shown could produce at best 15w. It would take ~.5kw to keep itself defrosted depending on the location. Everything else is moot.
 
Half a kilowatt just to maintain +2 degrees C? I seriously doubt that. There are aquarium heaters that are 15 watts, for 10 gallons of water, and that keeps water 10 degrees over the surrounding temp. Plus, the heater wouldn't have to heat the entire hexagon - just the very top layer, and just enough that water evaporates.
 
cr0ft said:
Half a kilowatt just to maintain +2 degrees C? I seriously doubt that. There are aquarium heaters that are 15 watts, for 10 gallons of water, and that keeps water 10 degrees over the surrounding temp. Plus, the heater wouldn't have to heat the entire hexagon - just the very top layer, and just enough that water evaporates.
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I built a net zero solar power house in 2011. The 2800square foot house only required 5kw of integrated solar roof panels. That is the size of a small portable generator. The power company FPL becomes the storage battery because the meter turns backwards when the homeowners are producing more power than they are using. We tried to design it net zero because the power companies in Florida only have to reimburse you what they deem the value of the current you are supplying them, which in the case of this home was three cents a kWh. In California there is a one to one law which means you receive what it would cost to buy. If Florida's legislature was not owned by big business every new home would be built like this and we would not need the two new nuclear plants that the legislature has allowed the power companies to start charging for.
 
I'm interested to know what it'd be like to ride on one. I love the concept of the LEDs so they warn people of things. Obviously we aren't quite there technology-wise... someday we will be, though. And honestly, I think there are a whole lot of non-traffic surfaces we can put these on. Also, foot paths and the like.
 
I can't speak for the science, but if there is any possible way to keep me on my bike (and salt free) all winter I very strongly support it. Everything else would nice, but keeping a predictable, tractable surface under my tires would be a dream come true.
 
My grandfather told me once, if he was a kid,and told someone, that someday, we could look into a piece of glass,see, hear and have a conversation in real time with someone on the other side of the world, they would have locked him in an asylum, and thrown away the key. 30 years ago the computers in my school needed an entire room to power it, now my cel phone is more powerful than anything back then. Who knows, as technologies grow, maybe some day it will be possible. As our fossil fuels diminish, costs will rise to the point that this may become a cheaper alternative. I can probably safely say this will be a more southern application, our winters up here have such frost depths, that entire roadways heave and fall with the temperature fluctuations dramatically, still its a really neat idea........oh ya 1970's Popular Mechanics....WHERE'S MY FREAKIN JETPACK YOU PROMISED!!!!
 
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