If You Need Any Convincing That Solar Roadways Are The Future, This Video Will Help

a reply to: Arbitrageur

I would think that such an endeavour with these panels would begin in more acclimated areas that do not see as much snow and then branch out from there. If it is all connected then the areas that do not need to be heated will be supplying the power to heat the ones that do and areas like where I live in Florida will not even need heating elements.

I would be interested to see what the cost is to build and maintain power lines underground separately as they already do in some areas because these roadways would combine such projects. I hope any roadways that are built using this technology will be built to last like many other countries do instead of our current system where the lowest bidder usually gets the contract and in my opinion we do not even get what we pay for that way. Other countries builders guarantee their workmanship for a set amount of time.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

We'll see how it tests within the next couple of years. If it passes all the tests, we then should have a national conversation on how to pay for it. I think what should happen first is investing in training existing road and roadside utility workers to work with the plates and the trench digging and wiring it into the grid.

As is the plates use copper wiring not gold or silver, which is cheaper by comparison but not shrug it off cheap either. Graphene is close to breaking through, hopefully within the next couple of years it will.

If proven effective, we absolutely can reduce our military budget (won't need so much oil), and use part of the existing infrastructure budget.

Once upon a time, an interstate system was pie in the sky as was an transcontinental railway as was powering our nation with a grid run off coal, oil and gas. All of those things came with a massive investment of tax dollars... that paid off and carried us forward, I think this will too.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Grimpachi answered nicely lol.

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: OccamsRazor04

We'll see how it tests within the next couple of years. If it passes all the tests, we then should have a national conversation on how to pay for it. I think what should happen first is investing in training existing road and roadside utility workers to work with the plates and the trench digging and wiring it into the grid.

As is the plates use copper wiring not gold or silver, which is cheaper by comparison but not shrug it off cheap either. Graphene is close to breaking through, hopefully within the next couple of years it will.

If proven effective, we absolutely can reduce our military budget (won't need so much oil), and use part of the existing infrastructure budget.

Once upon a time, an interstate system was pie in the sky as was an transcontinental railway as was powering our nation with a grid run off coal, oil and gas. All of those things came with a massive investment of tax dollars... that paid off and carried us forward, I think this will too.

It would cost hundreds of TRILLIONS of dollars. There is no conversation on how to pay for it, it's not even possible. A small driveway costs $15k+. Imagine all the highways and roads? Seriously the most stupid idea ever. That is not even counting the cost to keep it heated.

Also the military budget is already pretty low. Our military is falling apart, and if we don't fix it we are going to be extremely screwed. It's below 20%.

How long do these panels last? 56 trillion can pay for themselves over time, if you take into account all the maintenance costs and electricity bills. Also, it's said that you don't need to cover every roads, and some say that you can cover the energy needs 10 times, others say it's 3 times, that's a big difference.

However, I think for now, using electric cars and hybrids should be sufficient. As it turns out, you will actually save more on hybrids by not having to pay for gas, if you were to use the hybrids for its lifetime(16 years?)

The range problem can be solved by having certain rental car places, because most people will not drive more than the current allowable range daily. To me, you should not try to solve every little problem, if the cost to solve it is too high, and there is an alternative solution to it.

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: Arbitrageur

Grimpachi answered nicely lol.

Yes by saying to my criticism of the snow claim to not use them where there is snow.

However if we are being bamboozled on the snow claim we shouldn't trust the other claims either.

I raised 9 other points besides the snow, and none of those were addressed satisfactorily.

My boyfriend just found this awesome site, it has some calculations that should help the conversation about cost.

What is all this going to cost?
The average cost of asphalt roads in 2006 was roughly $16 per square foot. The cost does not include maintenance (pot hole repair, repainting lines, etc.) or snow/ice removal. The average lane width is 12 feet, so a 4 lane highway would be 12' (width per lane) x 4 (lanes) x 5280' (one mile) = 253440 square feet. Multiply this by $16 per square foot and your one-mile stretch of asphalt highway will cost $4,055,040.00 and will last an average of seven years.



We plan to design the Solar Roadways™ to last at least 21 years (three times that of asphalt roads), at which time the panels would need to be refurbished. Adding no additional cost to the current asphalt system, this will allow us to invest about $48 ($16 x 3) per square foot. This means that if each individual panel can be made for no more than $6912.00, then the Solar Roadway™ can be built for the same cost as current asphalt roads. However, asphalt roads don't give you anything back.



Based on 15% efficiency, each Solar Road Panel™ can produce an average of 7.6kWh per day. Our hypothetical 4-lane, one-mile stretch of road would require 1760 Solar Road Panels™. That means that, each day, this stretch of Solar Roadway™ would produce at least 13,376 kWh of electricity. That's 4,882,240 kWh per year - enough to take 500 homes completely "off grid". You don't get that out of asphalt!



In addition, the Solar Roadway™ replaces our current aging power grid. The Solar Roadways™ carry power – not from a centralized point like a power station, but from the power-producing grid itself – along with data signals (cable TV, telephone, high-speed internet, etc.) to every home and business connected to the grid via their driveways and parking lots. In essence, the Solar Roadways™ becomes a conduit for all power and data signals.



For an accurate cost comparison between current systems and the Solar Roadways™ system, you’d have to combine the costs of asphalt roads, power plants, and power and data delivery systems (power poles and relay stations) to be compatible with the Solar Roadway™ system, which provides all three.



2003: the US used just over 4,372 Billion kilo-Watt hours of electricity. This would require 14,574 300MW power stations (coal-fired, nuclear, etc.). For the sake of argument, let’s assume coal-fired power stations, which cost roughly $1B each for a 300MW plant.



Asphalt roads: 25,000 square miles in the “lower 48” states = 696960000000 square feet. At $16/square foot, this is a cost of $11,151,360,000,000 and the cost of asphalt is rising rapidly with the cost of petroleum. This does not include maintenance (pot hole repair, repainting of lines, snow/ice removal, etc.)

4.84 billion (12’ by 12’) Solar Road Panels™ would be required to replace the current asphalt road system, parking lots, and driveways in the 48 contiguous states. This is enough to provide three times more electricity than the United States used in 2003 and almost enough to supply the entire world.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Bamboozled on the snow claim? I'm not following. And sorry for not addressing your other points, I got caught up with the site I just posted, which will hopefully address some of your other points such as durability... the claim is that these will last 3 times as long as asphalt before needing to be replaced.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Yes by saying to my criticism of the snow claim to not use them where there is snow.

Wait a minute I did not say that at all. I know you to be pretty intelligent in most threads s I ask you to please go back and reread what I did say.

originally posted by: Grimpachi
a reply to: Kali74

I am thinking since they got DOT funding that once it is proven as successful that they could also get DOE funding.

I imagine in the end such roadways would drastically reduce spending in our nation.

Just recently here there was a thread that driverless cars got the OK in California so I would think such projects could be combined.

They got DOT funding for prototypes. Until we cut the military budget there will not be money for building and infrastructure no matter how needed it is. Think of all the jobs that would be created, all the new small businesses that could start up in the field.

a reply to: FyreByrd

You know those bumps on highways. The fellow who designed and developmented them couldn't get any funding and finally he got enough money together (which is what these folks are tying to do) to outfit a strip of highway (a very dangerous patch of road if my memory serves) and let the facts over time pile up. Well you know the rest of the story - those things are everywhere.

These folks are smart and have been working on this a long time. They seem to be doing it right. We'll just have to see what happening and maybe send a few bucks at their crowdsourcing account.

originally posted by: Grimpachi
Wait a minute I did not say that at all. I know you to be pretty intelligent in most threads s I ask you to please go back and reread what I did say.

This is what you said:

originally posted by: Grimpachi
a reply to: Arbitrageur

I would think that such an endeavour with these panels would begin in more acclimated areas that do not see as much snow and then branch out from there.

Then you go on to contradict my statement that you can't transfer the power because it's not AC, and you suggest transferring the power. Solar panels make DC, not AC, and DC has too limited a range to transfer the power as you suggest, as I already said in one of my 10 points. That's why we're not using DC on the grid.

If you put solar collectors on your roof, you can use the DC in your house because it's local, and some people do this. But you can't send DC power from Florida to the snowy Northeast.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

I have not made a single comment in this thread about AC or DC power so I have no idea where you are getting that from.

Also, I have not said the roadways would not be put in snowy climates only that the task of replacing the roadways should or most probably would start in more acclimated areas.


I can't debate you on points I have not made or haven't endorsed. I think you have gotten me mixed up with some other poster.

Very cool. I've always thought the expanses of hot asphalt were unused energy pools and thought of solar roadways decades ago (living in AZ we are reminded daily of the sun's energy)... made some noise and ended up doing nothing about it as materials/tech, at the time, weren't up to it.

Kudos to this endeavor. They could also run water pipes through in residential areas for hot water. One more step in the right direction (assuming the manufacturing of the solar/electronic elements is clean and fair... and that assumes much).

Edit: and as far as snow in the north... heating elements would eradicate the need for salting and resultant corrosion... but new, smart roads... smarter, safer grid... we need many things, and I'm not terribly optimistic that the U.S. will suddenly come to its senses and spend on updated infrastructure rather than killing machines and snooping.

www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

ok so i see that it is already being discussed,

although the closure seemed rather brusk,,cough, cough,www.abovetopsecret.com...

Do i smell a Consperacy????

It's brilliant absolutely brilliant

But I have a couple of issues with it

It's going to cost and absolute fortune before any value can be made of it

It's going to take a very long time to lay

It's going to cause absolute havoc during construction

I don't believe this material is all weather safe.. Such as ice etc

And what if a truck over turns? Would it crack the whole road causing more injuries

Sure these are all very minor in comparisons to the enormous benefits but have these issues been tested and resolved yet?

IMO we should be pushing lot and lot of money into getting a test road laid down and tested now

A few updates. The crowd funding has topped 1.7M shattering the record for the site they used (yay!). But probably more importantly is that they are getting letters of interest from some 'headed in the right direction' places. This is starting to make traction let's hope it continues

NBC

Chicago Tribune

And from their Facebook page...

We are blessed to have such a long list of interested customers from all over the world, and we know people are curious about who they are. We only mention those who have given us permission. The City of Sandpoint, Idaho has already announced their desire for sidewalks, parking lots and eventually roads. Here are some others we can now mention: Amtrak station in Sandpoint, Idaho; Sandpoint Airport; Panhandle Animal Shelter in Ponderay, Idaho; Idaho Transportation Department, Boise State University, Idaho; Wright State University, Ohio; NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

We turn in Letters of Interest (no obligation) to the Federal Highway Administration each month, as they want to assess the level of interest in our project. If you are interested in a Solar Roadways project for your home or business: driveway, parking lot, sidewalk, bike path, road etc. and would like the Federal Highway Administration to count you among interested parties, please email a Letter of Interest (no obligation obviously) to us, and we will include it in our report.

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Ok.

I hate to be a Debby-Downer, but I'm going to leave this video here, which will sadly destroy all the excitement for this solar-program.
If it was feasible I'd get behind the idea, but the amount of problems with it just keep mounting.

If you are seriously thinking of contributing to this couple's idea, please take the time to watch this video.

Oh man... Now I feel bad, the whole threads excitement ground to a halt after my above video. Maybe we can discuss his ideas of making a shed-like solar panel roof over the freeways. Certainly makes more sense in many other ways when you think about it!

a reply to: Qumulys

Obviously you don't feel bad rather you seem to be quite enjoying it. Videos like you posted were to be expected and I'm sure the negativity will get much, much worse. The fact is we won't know until the prototypes are made and tested in all conditions. The inventors make several claims about this project, I'm fine with having made my small donation for the possibility that it's what the inventors say it will be... if it turns out to be a flop I'll be disappointed that it didn't work, not that I lost money. I feel that if it doesn't work, the idea is still sound and whatever didn't work can be fixed.