Solar Freaking Panels on Roadways?
- Thread starter Herzog
- Start date
Badger
I am the Brute squad
- Location
- South Salt Lake
Ok I get it but then the next problem becomes how to store that much energy for use at night. Great you saved the world from one type of pollution only to create another making tons of batteries.
My take is, if you really think about whats involved in doing something like this it just seems completely unviable.
The cost of designing, manufacturing, installing, trouble shooting, maintaining, and further developing a programmable infrastructure would be enormous. You're paying skilled technicians to build a road by the quite labor intensive square inch at a time, instead of just resurfacing asphalt in large runs at a time. Keep in mind you certainly still need a solid surface to put these on, I doubt you just plop them in the dirt.
How many iPads would it take to cover every square inch of just the I-15 corridor? (the main difference being iPads are cheaper to make)
Rooftop solar, being highly optimized, is only barely lucrative in certain situations. These things being mounted at the lowest point puts them in shadows very early and being mounted upward facing (not solar facing) gives non-incident angles which further decrease efficiency. The non optically clear lens over them would absorb most of the solar energy, (even optical quality glass lenses can absorb a substantial percentage). Road grime would play a large part in keeping the panels dirty, leaving you with an expensive plastic road until they're cleaned and can produce electricity again. Keeping snow/ice melted in the infinite heatsink that is the outdoors in the winter would take a huge amount of energy, more than the things would produce in quite some time. Most electronics have a hard time not failing on a desk where thy're not being run over by the stresses of millions of pounds a day.
The most expensive, tricked out, completely unnecessary parking lot on earth? yeah... you might be able to sell that in the mac store.
Make a solar roof shingle instead, at least it goes unmolested for years at a time and can possible give you a decent roi.
The cost of designing, manufacturing, installing, trouble shooting, maintaining, and further developing a programmable infrastructure would be enormous. You're paying skilled technicians to build a road by the quite labor intensive square inch at a time, instead of just resurfacing asphalt in large runs at a time. Keep in mind you certainly still need a solid surface to put these on, I doubt you just plop them in the dirt.
How many iPads would it take to cover every square inch of just the I-15 corridor? (the main difference being iPads are cheaper to make)
Rooftop solar, being highly optimized, is only barely lucrative in certain situations. These things being mounted at the lowest point puts them in shadows very early and being mounted upward facing (not solar facing) gives non-incident angles which further decrease efficiency. The non optically clear lens over them would absorb most of the solar energy, (even optical quality glass lenses can absorb a substantial percentage). Road grime would play a large part in keeping the panels dirty, leaving you with an expensive plastic road until they're cleaned and can produce electricity again. Keeping snow/ice melted in the infinite heatsink that is the outdoors in the winter would take a huge amount of energy, more than the things would produce in quite some time. Most electronics have a hard time not failing on a desk where thy're not being run over by the stresses of millions of pounds a day.
The most expensive, tricked out, completely unnecessary parking lot on earth? yeah... you might be able to sell that in the mac store.
Make a solar roof shingle instead, at least it goes unmolested for years at a time and can possible give you a decent roi.
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gijohn40
too poor to wheel... :(
- Location
- Layton, Utah
first off there is no sunlight at night to power these... so no energy to store... and on snowy days the sunlight is not that much and the energy to melt the snow would be small so at times they might not even melt the snow. this would work in arizona and utah that are rated one and two as most sunlight states but what about places like Maine that doesn't get as much DIRECT sunlight?
Until they make these super efficient this is just not a viable energy source.
Saying that I would love to see this happen!
Until they make these super efficient this is just not a viable energy source.
Saying that I would love to see this happen!
No sunlight at night, no sunlight when vehicles are on them, high maintenance/complexity/cost. The idea just doesn't pan out in my mind. Solar powered shingles makes a whole lot more sense during the day. Can you imagine how torn up these things would get with plowing each winter?
Skylinerider
Wandering the desert
- Location
- Ephraim
I would love to see a test on a larger scale, take a mile of desert highway that doesn't see heavy traffic, oh say highway 257 between Milford and Delta and do a larger, long term study.
1995zj
I'm addicted
- Location
- Herriman, UT
I like the idea, but it's just that, an idea.
Too many things come to mind. Can you imagine the cost of repairing the road after a rollover accident? I doubt these would hold up to a semi flipping on its side. Insurance rates would be sure to increase since they would have to cover the property damage caused.
Too many things come to mind. Can you imagine the cost of repairing the road after a rollover accident? I doubt these would hold up to a semi flipping on its side. Insurance rates would be sure to increase since they would have to cover the property damage caused.
Spork
Tin Foil Hat Equipped
- Location
- Saratoga Springs, UT
Solar Freakin' Roadways! I think it needs to start as Solar Freakin' parking lots or Solar Freakin' walkways to prove the technology out first. I just can't see them changing out I-15 for them.
I'm with you guys. Neat idea but I question the cost and longevity as well as maintenance and safety of such an idea in the long term. Solar roof tiles or regular solar panels on all roofs makes more sense to me. Combine that with 100% LED bulbs, ultra efficient appliances, more efficient home and commercial building designs... I'm not totally against solar roadways, I just think with today's tech and costs that there are better and more realistic options.
Seriously, walkways and bike paths would be a neat start!
- Location
- Stinkwater
They're skipping right past that, actually. The road of the future won't need to monitor you, because you won't be able to break the law, because they're not even going to let you drive. There are already groups arguing that only autonomous cars should be allowed on the roads. And they'll win. You won't be allowed to drive your own car on the freeway within 15-20 years, I'm betting.
I'm all for any technology that conceivably gets us first off foreign oil, and then off fossil fuels altogether. Solar tech in the right place and time can help with that. I'm thinking there's a lot of places we should be putting solar first before we worry about solar roads there. People are donating to this project without thinking it through, because people are idiots.
I'm with you on this one. Solar power, biodiesel from algae, Chevy Volt style hybrid cars, hydro electric, energy efficient homes, etc. Lots of ways to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and "fossil fuels" in general. The problem is very few are simple cheap drop-in replacements with no downside. It takes what, a decade or two for solar panels on the roof to pay for themselves? Hybrid vehicles are typically more expensive and slower than the same vehicle with a gas engine. The cheapest LED bulbs are still close to $10 each last time I checked. Let's not forget the negative effects from the manufacture of these products. Fortunately the price for some of these things is dropping rapidly.
All this comes from someone who drives an H2.
However, I'm not sure about you guys but I get a letter from Rocky Mountain Power every so often. It started showing I was using something like 75% more electricity per month for my worst months than "all neighbors" whatever that means. Since then (coincidentally, not because of the letters) I've been replacing light bulbs with CFLs - which you pretty much have to choose between CFLs and LEDs now, and setting the thermostat a degree or two closer to the outside temp. I've also been replacing large power hungry desktop computers with gaming video cards with low power mini computers or laptops. Being an IT guy who works from home who has a couple PC game playing boys, and a whole house media setup I have 12 computers I can think of off the top of my head, most of which are powered on 24/7. I set the timer on my Keurig coffee maker to have hot water when I get up for work then shut off an hour later instead of keeping the water hot 24/7. Now I'm down to slightly less than "all neighbors" and down 21% this year compared to last. I know those numbers don't add up compared to the 75% number, but that's because my worst months were June through August last year.
I really should look into solar powered attic fans - I hear nothing but good about them, except of course the price.
Spork
Tin Foil Hat Equipped
- Location
- Saratoga Springs, UT
I've never been impressed with CFL's I have one light with them and it drives me crazy how poor the light is. LED bulbs have my vote, Home Depot had some 60W equiv bulbs for under $10 and I've been replacing burned out bulbs with them.
Ever wonder why a power company that makes money by making electricity wants you to use less power? They can sell it for a lot more money to California. It's not like they're gonna make "less" power. Assholes.
The old original ones I bought at first kinda suck, the current ones can be pretty good though. I do want to try the LEDs, I think they are going to be the winner in the long run. I just checked and they have Cree soft white bulbs on sale for just under $5 each. Looks like prices have finally fallen enough for me to give them a try.
But at that point why not just leave the perfectly fine road alone and put actual, cheaper, many times more efficient, solar panels 200ft to the side of the road, and then in 10-20 years they would pay for themselves right as they start wearing out.
Nothing about the whole idea makes any real sense, it's not filling a need, we don't need led road stripes... It would probably be the largest most expensive project humanity has every attempted, it would surely be trillions of dollars to convert all the roads in the US alone.
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lol... I've been waiting for someone with real electrical engineering background to destroy this ridiculous idea.
[video=youtube;obS6TUVSZds]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obS6TUVSZds[/video]
[video=youtube;obS6TUVSZds]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obS6TUVSZds[/video]