Can I just post this for discussion?
Article: “If You Need Any Convincing That Solar Roadways Are The Future, This Video Will Help”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTA3rnpgzU[/youtube]
Alright, ILP*, what are the downsides?
(I can think of 2 minor cons.)
Geeezzz… yet another encroachment of technocracy.
• It would probably become illegal to park on the street as that would reduce electric output.
• It would not be installed without Google personal authentication monitoring literally watching every single step you take.
• It would not produce more jobs at all. It might reduce jobs significantly.
• It would not change the economy at all other than be another excuse to raise taxes.
• It would probably be integrated with the intelligent cars to prevent personal driving freedom.
• During the promotion, existing roads would fall into disrepair and false flag reports of the dangers of “old roads” would be promoted possibly requiring the deaths of many people.
• “Abusing the road” might become a federal offense involving extreme fines.
• Additional licensing of the right to walk on walkways might arise (merely to offset the cost, of course).
• Driving off-road without a license might become illegal… and perhaps walking off-grid.
• Private driveways might become another contractor/union licensing and inspecting ordeal, driving housing construction prices even higher.
• Parking lots would become an issue probably leading to higher prices for blocking the sunlight.
• Standing on a walkway, blocking the sunlight, might become another excuse for arresting and fining even more people.
• Littering might become another excuse for raising fines and city revenue.
• Investment cost would be staggering.
No one would benefit except the government while also raising taxes on everyone else.
And realize that they have had solar panels for decades to fit on rooftops yet you only see them in wealthy neighborhoods.
Indeed. Even if for no other reason, the prohibitively expensive cost is still…prohibitive. It’s simply not cheap enough yet. And I’m pretty sure the idea of ‘paying for itself’ is not entirely the whole story. I read somewhere that the life expectancy of modern solar panels is only barely long enough for them to cover their own cost; the life expectancy of solar panels being driven on would be significantly shorter.
Sounds just like the good old American Snake Oil sellers of the past.
This stuff cures warts, cancer, and VD. You can use it to wash your hair, clean the cat and for an added bound varnish the furniture!!! It cleans, it purges, it emeticates, its anti-inflammatory, and give you a hard on too!!!
Ge whydnoone thunk of it b4 ±!^$&£.!!
Shit- it gonna solve all our problems!
And end to world terrorism and poverty - al ya have to do is dig urp yer driveway! Sheeeeeeeeeeet!!!
Hot diggety dang!!
Is they like not telling us man?
I don’t know about the life expectancy (I read about warranties of 35 years for a panel array), but two non-rich people I know have solar panels at their homes and they both think it was a worthy investment. They can sell any excess power they don’t need for their home to BGE or whomever (to a certain limit). It is a long term investment, but it will actually pay off in the end financially as well as environmentally in a dramatic fashion if enough people were to take part. And if it covered the roadways, I mean, political stuff and evil tech fears aside, think about how much energy that would be… I think it’s worth looking into.
James,
Of course, a million political snares could keep it from being a benefit to all, but that goes without saying for anything. Why try to do anything that could possibly be usurped by the gov’t?
Despite the ability for a malicious government to utilize new products, some products actually serve the individual in some minor way. Those road panels don’t help anyone at all except a malicious government.
They will be used in excessively wealthy cities to ensure that outsiders are immediately recognized and tracked. And they will be paid for by those outsiders (you). Dubai for example will no doubt have them. And literally anyone setting foot in Dubai, will be monitored with literally every step they make (so as to keep the wealthy, wealthy). THEIR energy costs will be nothing.
We could hack into the display systems and have giant digital images of penises going down the highway! Let’s do this thing.
Yes, that would seem to be the case.
Lol.
This is an insane idea, though it looks cool.
James is probably right with most of these points.
I also have my doubts about tire grip on glass in wet weather… not to mention the galactic costs of installing these panels on even a single highway, connecting them all to each other and to a grid - and the endless, constant repair jobs required, and of course every poor person will be going out at night to rip off as many panels as he can carry –
on top of that the energy these panels give may be clean, but the effort it takes to produce them is certainly not.
worldwatch.org/node/5650
Yes, first Dubai and then Holland, probably. There are about three square inches of unspoilt nature left here and everything that makes the country look less natural is instantly embraced. Fly over this area in moist weather and it looks like a microchip. No doubt solar freaking roadways would add to the experience of being totally estranged from life.
And on rainy days, the whole economy can just come to a standstill…
Pretty extensive debunking: youtube.com/watch?v=H901KdXgHs4
Thunderf00t has this perfect patronizing British way of speaking, kind of like Richard Dawkins. Listening to them speak its like their too smug to even be considered wrong.
Implementing solar roadways does not have to be to the exclusion of all other energy sources. I’m not an expert but I would also guess there are ways of storing energy for rainy days.
That’s fair criticism. I’d like to know how the solar roadway engineer and his wife would respond.
I do think we need an alternative for the conventional Tarmac roads and paved walkways, as re-laying them is a costly and inconvenient process, so a better alternative is needed than what us currently already in use… could it be solar FREAKIN highways? Dun dun dun 
What’s happened to the world of tomorrow? We need it today!
Yeah, “smug” (and not 100% accurate) is what I got out of it.
He was obviously trying to debunk rather than trying to expose the reality of it.
Although I basically agree with his overall concern, he used deception to try to debunk.
They say that they’re utilizing recycled materials to build these things but I highly doubt that is all that goes into their manufacturing process.
It takes a lot of oil and disposable energy to construct solar panels and with there being a oil shortage globally I just don’t really see this taking off.
What kind of batteries is the energy from the solar panels stored into?
What kind of output range per square mile do these batteries distribute electricity?
Over a period of time, what is the replaceable rate of these batteries?
Now, if this was to eventually replace roads across the planet understand that would be a lot of fucking energy batteries or power cells to assemble.
Is that even remotely viable?
I’m pretty sure they would use valadium batteries that never wear out.
How does that work? What’s so effective about valadium?
Sorry, that was supposed to be Vanadium Redox Battery. It was back in the 90’s for me and I don’t remember all of the details. It is a battery that keeps its charge strictly within the fluid via ions rather than between metal plates and acid via chemical bonds. The plates merely act to release the ion charge from the vanadium fluid. Once the fluid is depleted, the fluid can be recharged. The plates don’t corrode and the charge can be released very quickly due to seriously low internal resistance.
The idea was to convert gas filling stations into redox recharge stations. A consumer would pull up and have his fluid exchanged for charged fluid. Optionally, the batteries could be recharged at home. They are designed now with internal fluid pumps making them pretty complex compared to lead-acid batteries. But because the batteries don’t wear out, they are only used by government and up level people.