Missouri is about to experiment with power from an unlikely source — its roads

Solar Roadways are going to be tested in Missouri on Route 66. Solar Roadways are panels put down in place of Roads, and they harness the energy of the sun to provide light for Road lines and Signage. There seems to be some real excitement bubbling about this new technology which should change transportation for the US and the world.

Part of its ‘Road to Tomorrow Initiative,’ Missouri’s Department of Transportation is teaming with Solar Roadways, an Idaho-based startup (seriously, what’s going on in Idaho?) to cover an undetermined length of Historic Route 66 with road-ready solar panels. “We expect them to be in place, I’m hoping, by the end of this year, maybe before snow flies,” initiative leader Tom Blair recently told the Kansas City Star. Blair also told The Star that the bulk of its efforts will be crowdfunded. After receiving a $100,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration to build a prototype, and a pair of $750,000 research grants from the US Department of Transportation, the group has raised more than $2 million of its own to complete the project through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. Solar Roadways’ panels are tempered safety glass that are as strong as they are efficient. In addition to harnessing energy from the sun, they also come with LED lighting to effectively replace road lines and signage. While obviously more expensive to install upfront, the panels do have the benefit of being completely modular, which would allow for quick and cheap repairs by just swapping out the broken panels rather than re-paving entire stretches of road. Missouri isn’t the first to experiment with solar roads, but if previous tests are any indication, there’s every reason to be optimistic about the future of the technology.

I'm excited for where this technlogy is going. It has vast potential to really be something great...! Is this the game changer we've been looking for? What say ATS?

thenextweb.com...

I would say, I expect them to fail. But the value is in learning what not to do the next time. A solar cell bank you run trucks over will have issues that will not be apparent at first try.

I remember this video from a while back

a reply to: lostbook
We take the fact that we have a relatively smooth and wide road for granted. This very well could be the future of roads. With any large change there will be hiccups and mis steps.
Imagine what this "new" road is going to look like at night. It will be like stepping into the future with LED's inside each hex piece and being made out of an entirely different material. I look forward to future stories and youtube vids.

I have seen this, and the creator of such, he ever ran semi's over them and showed how durable they are, and the benefits to such would be outstanding. After seeing such, the other thing that came to mind that this could be a benefit for would be housing. Think about it, houses where the roofs are covered in these tiles could help provide electricity to a house if not more, and that would help in some parts of the country, area's like Arizona, where it is a desert, if it can survive the temp, and still perform and produce energy, could make Arizona and other parts of the country energy producers that are able to keep the lights on in other parts of the country, and if it can be made here in the USA, could provide jobs and a whole new market could open up. The concept could change alot.

a reply to: lostbook

what they need to do is find a way to use the heat that roads generate.
over course in winter might not be do much, but during the rest of the year.

originally posted by: Bedlam
A solar cell bank you run trucks over will have issues that will not be apparent at first try.

There's a reason paved roads have those nasty grooves worn into them in the right lane.

a reply to: Zaphod58



opps wrong grove

a reply to: lostbook

I understand this will likely have some significant challenges on the way to solid effective durable refinement of the concept.

However, I think a lot of the carping is just that--contrarian carping.

At least these folks launched out and pushed their dream to this stage. More power to them.

The Netherlands experiment is producing more power than thought. Good.

And, I like the flexibility of the signage for differing conditions.

I hope they succeed in a big way.

Glass is an amazing substance. We shall see how it functions as a roadway. But in a lot of ways, being modular, it may well be better than asphalt and/or concrete.

imho, it is well worth a try.

Good on them for bringing it to this stage.

THAT'S TONS MORE than all the politicos and drone bureaucrats in D.C. have accomplished in a very long time.

As if there needs to be another way for crony road builders to fleece the taxpayer. Obvious crony ripoff. This is going absolutely nowhere.

a reply to: sprtpilot

What a truly adventurous, innovative, bold and creative attitude!

/sarc

The current asphalt and concrete industries do not NEED any new ways to facilitate corruption and fleecing of the public. Sheesh.

It's conceivable that a new 'kid on the block' just might upset the corrupt status quo in some wonderful ways.

But hey, far be it from me to hinder your negativism. It's rather chronic and popular in various quarters around here.

And, given that sunshine and light may well be offensive to you, perhaps a black Jihadi hood would be more to your liking.

Sigh.

This after watching both videos i posted again really does seem to have so many problems in its basic design problems it seems incredible that anyone can take it seriously.

Putting expensive solar panels under thick rough low grade optically inferior glass thats going to get dirty and doesn't track with the sun just seems ridiculous.

Think about it, the rougher the glass the more its going to reflect the light and not let it pass though to the solar cells.

LEDs under thick rough dirty glass will not show up in full sunlight.

The amount of copper cabling needed to implement this is incredible.

Black top road is already recyclable.

Glass is soft and will not stand up to being driven on when you add small stones and grit to the equation.

Dont forget you are going to be looking at the LED's and something like a 30 degree angle from a car. Thats not going to be very easy to see though 10mm rough low quality glass.

a reply to: lostbook

Yay! Im glad to see this project getting its first highway test. Ive been follwing this from the start. I even donated.

Solar freakin roadways!

a reply to: PhoenixOD

Well glass can be made very hard tot he point of taking impact very well. But when you do this it's no long cost effective and as you pointed out it still does nothing for the dirt that would block out the light.

I really didn't think there was going to be a state to fall for this thing, but I guess as they say "there is one born everyday".

The best Missouri could hope for that it's a small scale test done under real world conditions and that's where it stops.

a reply to: Kali74


I'm curious to see where this project will lead. Critics act like the technology can't be streamlined and vastly improved over time. I can definitely see a future version consisting of thin & flexible yet durable "sheets" that can simply be laid in the desired areas. That version would probably be better for sidewalks and other lighter forms of traffic.

a reply to: lostbook
Doing the experiment will resolve many issues and better define problems. There will be unintended consequences that will be of interest.

Traction with snow on the surface? Freeze thaw cycles? Rocks and gravel driven into the surface? Problems with substrate durability and required flatness? Wiring? Winter salt and salt melt? Reparability by a road crew?

At first I was afraid, I was petrified
just kidding
At first I was excited by this innovative approach, but by the end of the Solar FREAKIN Roadways video I was doubting this idea.

I'm all for experimenting and what have you, but I have a bad feeling about this. I pray for the people who drive on that road.

Look, it could have positive applications, so I'm glad the ideas out there, but the problems.

Added light pollution, which already blocks the stars and leaves that hazy band of light on the horizon with existing city lights.
The man power that it would take to produce and install and maintain these solar roadways,
the cost from factory to finished product.

Shucks, dawg, imagine the waste in production. I am almost certain that besides the materials you see in the finished product, there are LOADS more materials involved in the making of those components, etc.
Loads of petrochemicals, minerals, water... the pollution, the un-recycled and un-recyclable waste, almost promised by industry... bleugh

Asphalt works. For now it is a refined technology. The best we've got.
It's recyclable to boot. I'd never thought of that before, but it makes sense. It can be reused for roads and similar projects.

Way more efficient than implementing electronic infused solar panel glass hexagons as roadways, I believe.

Maybe one day the tech will be there and maybe they will have helped inspire it, I hope so.
I still worry most about the light pollution issue. Honestly on that point alone I kinda hope this doesn't take off as a road surface. Maybe surfaces for emergency areas, shopping mall queuing, that kind of thing, kids playgrounds and stuff.

yeah

originally posted by: BO XIAN
a reply to: lostbook

I understand this will likely have some significant challenges on the way to solid effective durable refinement of the concept.

However, I think a lot of the carping is just that--contrarian carping.

At least these folks launched out and pushed their dream to this stage. More power to them.

The Netherlands experiment is producing more power than thought. Good.

And, I like the flexibility of the signage for differing conditions.

I hope they succeed in a big way.

Glass is an amazing substance. We shall see how it functions as a roadway. But in a lot of ways, being modular, it may well be better than asphalt and/or concrete.

imho, it is well worth a try.

Good on them for bringing it to this stage.

THAT'S TONS MORE than all the politicos and drone bureaucrats in D.C. have accomplished in a very long time.

I gave money, people need to make changes. Even if this were just driveways and main drags in small tourist towns at first it would be a start.

Solar Roadways is a modular paving system comprised of glass solar panels that have already been tested for load, traction and impact resistance (and can withstand the heaviest of trucks - 250,000 pounds).

bigthink.com...


What it could look like in Missouri.

www.hybridcars.com...

originally posted by: Zaphod58

originally posted by: Bedlam
A solar cell bank you run trucks over will have issues that will not be apparent at first try.

There's a reason paved roads have those nasty grooves worn into them in the right lane.

Watch them instal a driveway here
envgroup13.wordpress.com...

Most are not concrete, I have a suspicion that it sometimes is not the cost it is because of the jobs, the gov. keeps paving and repaving and sometimes the workers are doing pointless paving around here at least.

Concrete is the base for the glass, it may be extremely more durable than the present roads. They can make the roads from recycled glass. Stop using oil.

Concrete
Durability and maintenance free life: Concrete roads have a long service life of forty years, whereas asphalt roads last for ten years. More over, during this service life concrete road do not require frequent repair or patching work like asphalt roads.
Vehicles consume less fuel: A vehicle, when run over a concrete road, consumes 15-20% less fuel than that on asphalt roads. This is because of the fact that a concrete road does not get deflected under the wheels of loaded trucks.

Resistant to automobile fuel spillage and extreme weather: Unlike asphalt roads, concrete roads do not get damaged by the leaking oils from the vehicles or by the extreme weather conditions like excess rain or extreme heat.

Greener process: Asphalt (bitumen) produces lots of highly polluting gases at the time of melting it for paving. Also, less fuel consumption by the vehicle running on a concrete road means less pollution.

Saving of natural resources: Asphalt (bitumen) is produced from imported petroleum, the reserve of which is becoming reduced drastically. On the other hand, concrete (cement) is produced from abundantly

www.brighthubengineering.com...

his is more than enough to support a transport truck or even a fleet of military tanks according to Scott Brusaw. The glass is also shatter and fire proof. They have the same traction as asphalt which allows for proper time to stop, even

any surface that’s under the sun that can be walked on, can utilize these solar panels. These panels have the potential to be anything from roads, to sidewalks, playgrounds, bike paths, driveways, highways, race tracks, tarmacs, parking lots, patios, etc… The couple has even made a prototype parking lot which is officially working.

envgroup13.wordpress.com...

a reply to: enlightenedservant

Right lets see how this handles a real world test before we poop all over it and if it under performs can it be improved.