Check This Out! Solar Highways!!!

[Solomon]

http://www.wimp.com/solarhighways/

[Donnachaidh]

1. now that's out of the box thinking!

That would be awesome!

[supernova]

2. Genius!

:applause:

[ewagner]

3. questions:

are they (or can they be) less expensive than asphalt or concrete?

how much maintenance do they require to keep their solar integrity?

[immoderate]

19. Asphalt is becomming extinct. That's moot. Concrete requires energy to manufacture...

The point is that the road panels produce electricity. Their cost would have to consider the generators or solar panels and fuels they would replace. How do you count the benefits to the environment in general?

Your questions about maintenance are certainly relevant.

--imm

[Uncle Joe]

4. An excellent video with outstanding thinking that could answer several or more different problems

facing humanity from energy, global warming climate change, waste disposal, traffic safety and job creation.

Thanks for the thread, Solomon.:thumbsup:

[BadgerKid]

5. Great idea...

I jumped around the video, so I wonder did they discuss dust, rain, or snow?

edit: another use for zambonis?

[Solomon]

6. I remain convinced that there are other "free energy"

technologies that have been suppressed.

[upi402]

7. Great work, needs funding on the scale of nuclear

subsidies like corn, coal, and gas etc.

We need to use all forms of sustainable energy to reduce energy from oil, coal, and nuclear. DER (Distributed Energy Resources) must be our next "National Recovery Act".

[FSogol]

8. Kick and recommend. Send this to everyone you know. n/t

[tridim]

9. The only fault I can see is the endless repairs.

Consider a road that is never 100% open.

Edit: I just thought of another big fault, theft.

[FSogol]

11. Like Routes 495, 95, and 66 around our Nation's Capital? n/t

[reggie the dog]

12. a good source of jobs

better to pay someone to do an essential task than to pay them an insultingly low aide which is just enough to remain depressed and out of work without having "too many" of them killing themselves.

[Solomon]

15. I agree. The first thing I thought of: JOBS!

[katsy]

14. One man's endless repairs is another man's

jobs program.

That's okay by me since corporate America has since found slave labor in China and elsewhere.

Work is work. And in this case, it's eco-friendly work.

[tridim]

17. True, but a road that is constantly under construction isn't useful as a road.

That's all I'm saying. Jobs are always good.

[katsy]

20. The first 200 bps modem

was pretty useless also.

Likewise the first telephone.

You can take this all the way back to a stick first being used as a weapon against an unstoppable threat. Maybe the little stick couldn't save you, but a bigger stick may work.

I see this idea as a pioneer of technology to come. This may be a good idea to improve on. Or, maybe not.

But you can't make progress as a society if you chuck every new idea out the window because of your limitations.

Maybe these people will hook up with other people who bring innovation to the table and make the technology more efficient, less fragile.

Ideas can always be improved. A lack of ideas is what leads to stagnation.

[Scuba]

22. Bingo! Thanks for posting. Damn the naysayers. n/t

[Solomon]

24. I rather we spend a few billion trying to develop this than

some weapon that will never work. (Or even the weapons that DO work)

[tridim]

29. I'm not naysaying, I'm an engineer.

It's my job to ID and solve problems before they become a bigger problem.

[Search4Justice]

10. Very cool, on every level.

[Zanzoobar]

13. We'll feed mayonnaise to the tuna!

[A HERETIC I AM]

26. LOL!!! Excellent!

Nice, obscure reference.
.
.
.
.

"Night shift" was hilarious.

[northoftheborder]

16. Innovative thinking is what we need.....however.........

I see building rooftops as a better place for solar panels

[immoderate]

23. I did that calculation 20 years ago, the numbers worked then.

But I see advantages to this. First, roads are more easily accessed as public works. Buildings are privately owned. How do you get them to replace their roofs with solar panels?

The roads go everywhere already, so it's also a grid. And traffic keeps debris off the roads. Kind of self cleaning.

I still have questions about maintaining transparency and insuring traction, but that's where the development is.

--imm

[riverbendviewgal]

18. This is amazing

If used it could produce more electricity than is now produced, eliminate using asphalt which is a thousand bucks a ton and is petroleum based and it sure looks like it would be safe. And is used garbage to make it.
Great video.

[Scuba]

21. Best idea I've seen since....

Imagine if we had poured money into such ideas instead of giving it to Big Oil in tax rebates. Big Oil - the most profitable industry in the history of commerce.

[Solomon]

25. Or to the weapons industry. We spend billions on planes that

never fly.

[Xithras]

27. This keeps cropping up. The guy has been trolling for investors. It can't work.

His research and the development of the first prototype was funded by a DOT grant, but nobody has been interested in further funding it once they saw the device in action. He is now trying to sell shares in his company to fund further development, but even that hasn't attracted much support. His company has a TARGET cost of about $7,000 per panel, which works out to a construction cost of about $6.1 million per mile for a simple two lane road. And that's just for the panels.

In contrast, the cost of the asphalt to build the same road will cost between a few hundred thousand and a $1 million, depending on location.


Pile onto that the fact that the panels will require replacement every couple of years in most environments, and you are looking at something that is financially unsustainable. There is a growing trend in this country where local governments are plowing paved roads under and are returning to gravel because they can't afford the upkeep of ASPHALT roads. Because nearly all roadway construction and maintenance is funded by local governments, this project has no chance of widespread deployment.

[Solomon]

28. Well I guess that's that. Too good to be true.

[Xithras]

30. It's a neat idea. It just fails the practicality test.

There isn't a transparent material known to mankind that can take the constant sandblast-like effect of dirt and car tires, day in and day out, without becoming opaque. Not to mention the shattered panels every time there is a serious car accident, or a tree falls on the road. And what about snowplows? Can you imagine the impact of sanding and graveling these during a snowstorm?

I have a lot of respect for people who can think out of the box like this, but not all neat ideas are necessarily practical or worth pursuing.

[Snoutport]

31. thank you fro sharing KR