Is this too good to be true?

[ryan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTA3rnpgzU

The only major concern I have is the durability and the cost of maintenance. But maybe the energy produced can pay for it.

Does anyone have any other concerns?

Make sure to watch at least 20 seconds from 3:45. I think that you would have to have a pretty good proposition in order receive a contract from the Federal Highway Administration.

This seems like it could gain momentum and actually happen, but then part of me thinks MONORAIL!

 

[skepticalbip]

There is no reason that I can see that it wouldn’t work. The problem is one that the video ignored… cost. Creating “solar freaking roadways” out of all our current roads and parking lots would cost “multi-giga freaking bucks”. Using all our current federal and state welfare, heathcare, military, operating and infrastructure budgets for the task wouldn’t be enough. Plus we would likely miss some of the stuff government spends our taxes on now if it was used to make "solar freaking roads" instead. Sorta like, with our current technology, we could all take yearly vacations on the Moon or Mars... but there just ain't enough wealth. But we can imagine spending a couple weeks each year in a Hilton atop Olympus Mons.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

1) As skepticalbip says, cost. They have all the costs of solar and then some.

2) Melt the snow on the road? You really think they produce enough power for that?!?!?! If they get enough power then the black asphalt (which absorbs at least as much energy, but just turns it into local heat rather than electricity) would also melt the snow.

3) Run the power wires under the street? It's already often done locally (we have no poles around here) but running the bigger wires underground doesn't work too well--the wires get too hot. Not to mention that insulating the high voltage stuff is problematic. (Normally they are bare wires up there on the poles. No insulation = much better heat dissipation.)

 

[bilby]

1) As skepticalbip says, cost. They have all the costs of solar and then some.

Well, no; they don't have to pay for BOTH real estate on which to install solar panels AND a road surface, because they get the two functions for the price of one. A fairer comparison is not solar roadway costs vs solar panel costs; it is solar roadway coasts vs (solar panel costs PLUS conventional roadway costs). Then you need to check out the benefits side, and consider the savings due to fewer crashes on icy roads; better road markings; smart road markings that allow flexible traffic management; reduced pollution from other power sources; etc.; etc...

Whether they are economical, after allowing for all of that, remains to be seen - but it isn't appropriate to write them off as too expensive before a full cost/benefit analysis is done.

2) Melt the snow on the road? You really think they produce enough power for that?!?!?! If they get enough power then the black asphalt (which absorbs at least as much energy, but just turns it into local heat rather than electricity) would also melt the snow.

Except that black asphalt doesn't have the ability to move energy from the parts of the road surface that are clear of snow (possibly hundreds of miles away) to the parts that are still snowed under.

3) Run the power wires under the street? It's already often done locally (we have no poles around here) but running the bigger wires underground doesn't work too well--the wires get too hot. Not to mention that insulating the high voltage stuff is problematic. (Normally they are bare wires up there on the poles. No insulation = much better heat dissipation.)

Why would you need to have the long distance cabling under the roads? It can be managed the same way it is now. Only local cabling need go under the roads. This is not a problem.

 

[ryan]

There is no reason that I can see that it wouldn’t work. The problem is one that the video ignored… cost. Creating “solar freaking roadways” out of all our current roads and parking lots would cost “multi-giga freaking bucks”. Using all our current federal and state welfare, heathcare, military, operating and infrastructure budgets for the task wouldn’t be enough. Plus we would likely miss some of the stuff government spends our taxes on now if it was used to make "solar freaking roads" instead. Sorta like, with our current technology, we could all take yearly vacations on the Moon or Mars... but there just ain't enough wealth. But we can imagine spending a couple weeks each year in a Hilton atop Olympus Mons.

Yeah, even if works as well as they hope, it will still take a long time before all of the roads, sidewalks, parking lots etc. are replaced.

 

[Angry Floof]

If something works to benefit everyone and a lot of people are on board with it, they will find the money.

Legalize marijuana and tax it to pay for the solar roads.

 

[ryan]

2) Melt the snow on the road? You really think they produce enough power for that?!?!?! If they get enough power then the black asphalt (which absorbs at least as much energy, but just turns it into local heat rather than electricity) would also melt the snow.

The solar energy can be stored; heat from the asphalt isn't stored.

 

[Keith&Co.]

If something works to benefit everyone and a lot of people are on board with it, they will find the money.

Legalize marijuana and tax it to pay for the solar roads.

No, legalize marijuana and tax the shit out of brownie mixes and fast food.

 

[Keith&Co.]

2) Melt the snow on the road? You really think they produce enough power for that?!?!?! If they get enough power then the black asphalt (which absorbs at least as much energy, but just turns it into local heat rather than electricity) would also melt the snow.

Except that black asphalt doesn't have the ability to move energy from the parts of the road surface that are clear of snow (possibly hundreds of miles away) to the parts that are still snowed under.

So, we run a thread of superconductor through all existing roads. Connect everything into one big heat spreading network, and tap the heat off in individual boiler stations for power.

THEN start converting government parking lots at whatever pace the budget can support. By that point, we'll have mastered nanotechnology, so we just pour the grey ooze at the foot of each driveway, which converts asphalt to Solarphalt. Then it starts to convert gravel driveways to Solarphalt. And dirt roads. And paths. And sidewalks. Bridges.
And the southern face of all buildings.
Which would be the point that opaque graffitti becomes a felony. Not that it would really hurt things, at that point, since the whole nation sparkles under sunlight and produces enough power to drive a laser that could cut the moon in half, but even this far into the future, politicians will still be unable to grasp the relative size of the surface area under power compared to one building, however big.
Damned politicians. They ruin everything.

 

[Smoker]

How much weight can these panels hold? I'm worried that we wouldn't be able to put them on the highways of the US, because some of our heavy trucks weight at least 8 tons (That's 7257.48 kilograms for you non-americans) and I doubt those panels can hold that kind of weight without malfunctioning.

 

[Angry Floof]

How much weight can these panels hold? I'm worried that we wouldn't be able to put them on the highways of the US, because some of our heavy trucks weight at least 8 tons (That's 7257.48 kilograms for you non-americans) and I doubt those panels can hold that kind of weight without malfunctioning.

The video said that they are "designed and tested to meet all impact, load, and traction requirements."

 

[ryan]

How much weight can these panels hold? I'm worried that we wouldn't be able to put them on the highways of the US, because some of our heavy trucks weight at least 8 tons (That's 7257.48 kilograms for you non-americans) and I doubt those panels can hold that kind of weight without malfunctioning.

Watch the video at 0:40 for 5 seconds; they drive a small tractor on it.

 

[bilby]

How much weight can these panels hold? I'm worried that we wouldn't be able to put them on the highways of the US, because some of our heavy trucks weight at least 8 tons (That's 7257.48 kilograms for you non-americans) and I doubt those panels can hold that kind of weight without malfunctioning.

8 tons? That's a light truck. Heavy trucks have a GVM in the order of 40,000kg; Road trains with Gross Combination Mass of 90 tonnes are in common use in Australia, although the maximum axle group load for a triple axle group is 20 tonnes, so a 90 tonne road train would usually be a three or four trailer combination vehicle; four, five or even six trailer combinations are in use in remote parts of Australia with GCMs of almost 170,000kg; and a seven trailer combination with a GCM of 200,000kg is in use at the Granites gold mine in the western part of the Northern Territory.

Or to put it another way:

That's not a truck:

THIS is a truck:

 

[Smoker]

8 tons? That's a light truck. Heavy trucks have a GVM in the order of 40,000kg.

Ok, so do you think that this glass will be able to hold that kind of weight? That tractor in the video only goes over those panels once. Do you think these things can withstand that kind of weight many times every day? Is this glass really that tough?

 

[ryan]

How much weight can these panels hold? I'm worried that we wouldn't be able to put them on the highways of the US, because some of our heavy trucks weight at least 8 tons (That's 7257.48 kilograms for you non-americans) and I doubt those panels can hold that kind of weight without malfunctioning.

8 tons? That's a light truck. Heavy trucks have a GVM in the order of 40,000kg; Road trains with Gross Combination Mass of 90 tonnes are in common use in Australia, although the maximum axle group load for a triple axle group is 20 tonnes, so a 90 tonne road train would usually be a three or four trailer combination vehicle; something like this:

I would hate to back that thing up.

 

[bilby]

8 tons? That's a light truck. Heavy trucks have a GVM in the order of 40,000kg.

Ok, so do you think that this glass will be able to hold that kind of weight? That tractor in the video only goes over those panels once. Do you think these things can withstand that kind of weight many times every day? Is this glass really that tough?

I don't see any in-principle reason why it would not be possible to make a glass that is as tough as concrete, or even tougher. Whether the stuff these prototype panels use is of that standard I couldn't say; but it wouldn't surprise me if it was. Thick tempered glass can be immensely tough.

 

[Kharakov]

Why don't we all just pray for electricity?

Show

yeah, I'm a dick, and you found the hole I'm hiding in.

 

[Smoker]

I don't see any in-principle reason why it would not be possible to make a glass that is as tough as concrete, or even tougher. Whether the stuff these prototype panels use is of that standard I couldn't say; but it wouldn't surprise me if it was. Thick tempered glass can be immensely tough.

Is there a way to make thick tempered glass that is less expensive than making concrete roads?

 

[bilby]

I don't see any in-principle reason why it would not be possible to make a glass that is as tough as concrete, or even tougher. Whether the stuff these prototype panels use is of that standard I couldn't say; but it wouldn't surprise me if it was. Thick tempered glass can be immensely tough.

Is there a way to make thick tempered glass that is less expensive than making concrete roads?

I very much doubt it; concrete is extremely inexpensive.

Is there any way to generate electricity from concrete?

 

[Kharakov]

Is there any way to generate electricity from concrete?

Yeah. It's a fairly simple process.

1. Heat it until it's molten.
2. Throw endangered species in it.
3. When environmentalists arrive, use the catapult I told you to build a few years back and chuck them in.
4. Deregulate coal fueled power plants when the environmentalist level falls low enough.