Solar FREAKING Roadways!!

[gamz247]

Whether this is viable comes down to cost - they can't provide cost data yet. Meh.

To pave every road in the US with these solar panels, it would cost $56 trillion.

[Forgon]

Think it's safe to say you've been caught on a hype train without having the full picture.

Umm, no. Please read look through their facts and questions:

http://solarroadways.com/faq.shtml#index

[MaccaBird]

I wouldn't mind to see this tested on a small scale and watch the results.

I'm not a fan of large oil companies, and politicians like Michelle Bachman who take their money and says "Carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas."

[Forgon]

To pave every road in the US with these solar panels, it would cost $56 trillion.

By the time the $56 Trillion is spent, we would have had massive amounts of more money being pumped into our economy and saving unfolds amount from the the road itself.

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I wouldn't mind to see this tested on a small scale and watch the results.

I'm not a fan of large oil companies, and politicians like Michelle Bachman who take their money and says "Carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas."

They did test this on a small scale. It was done through a 2 stage process funded by the government already. And they have passed all test with flying colors.

[MerinPally]

Hasn't been thought of like this though, it has already gone through two phases of government progression. It's passed with flying colors. It would create SO much more jobs and better for the WORLD's economy than the expense it would take.

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How do you know that, considering they can't put a cost on it. Look I know you think you've found the next big thing that's slipped under the radar, but if this was half as good as you think it was, someone would've picked up on it before and be making a song and dance of it. Not starting a kickstarter or indiegogo page or whatever.

[Orlong]

Please watch the video.. This is not the "glass" you are thinking off, it's tempered glass that has passed ALL tests of the transportation department. THIS IS NOT A FAKE IDEA!

I did watch the video. BUt they never mention oversized loads on those trailers that have like 10 axels that pull things like power generators and yachts. I doubt it can withstand those. Also the panels look like they are made of little bumps of glass which doesnt look very smooth so the ride would be bumpy too

[Forgon]

yeah uhm, leds and the electronics inside the panels probably require a good amount of plastic

LED are super small..? Would be minimal if anything.

[Orlong]

Not exactly tree hugging when they want a new source of power, it's not as if coal/ oil is unlimited...

We got enough to last at least 100 years, and Ill be gone by then so I dont care. I do like the LED lights in them though, however this would cost a FORTUNE to replace all our roadways with

[prwraith]

By the time the $56 Trillion is spent, we would have had massive amounts of more money being pumped into our economy and saving unfolds amount from the the road itself.

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They did test this on a small scale. It was done through a 2 stage process funded by the government already. And they have passed all test with flying colors.

I'm all for this idea BUT you clearly have no idea just how much a trillion is.

[Forgon]

I did watch the video. BUt they never mention oversized loads on those trailers that have like 10 axels that pull things like power generators and yachts. I doubt it can withstand those. Also the panels look like they are made of little bumps of glass which doesnt look very smooth so the ride would be bumpy too

Taken from the Facts and Questions page I linked... :

How much weight can these panels support? Semi-trucks get pretty heavy!

Originally, we were designing toward 80,000 pounds. That was supposed to be the maximum legal limit for a semi-truck. However, we live in logging country and a former logging truck driver informed us that they don't have scales in the woods and that he'd topped out at 124,000 pounds. So we decided that we should go for 150,000 pounds. We then learned that oil companies can get permission to move refinery equipment up to 230,000 pounds on frozen roads, so we decided to shoot for 250,000 pounds.

Both 3D Finite Element Method analysis and actual load testing at civil engineering labs showed that our Solar Road Panels can handle that and more.

[Mayhem]

How do you know that, considering they can't put a cost on it. Look I know you think you've found the next big thing that's slipped under the radar, but if this was half as good as you think it was, someone would've picked up on it before and be making a song and dance of it. Not starting a kickstarter or indiegogo page or whatever.

yeah pretty much this

[Deleted]

Ill be gone by then so I dont care.

Imagine if 7 billion people thought of this planet as their own personal little playground.

[Orlong]

i uhm, so, what are the estimated numbers of leds and stuff needed to build one panel extrapolated on every road of the US? i mean there´s got to be plastic and therefor oil involved in the process of making

Yep, it takes oil to make almost all electronic components

[Kalis]

To pave every road in the US with these solar panels, it would cost $56 trillion.

Sounds like a bargain, I'll take two.

[Forgon]

I'm all for this idea BUT you clearly have no idea just how much a trillion is.

They have to pay people to do this... The money isn't going straight to one guy, it would essentially recycled through the economy.

[DEATHETERNAL]

Spread the word! We need to make this happen, don't oil companies and the electricity monopolies destroy the first ever REAL possibilities to have a better energy independent future!

Oil and electric companies don't need to lift a finger when maintenance and production costs kill this idea from the get go just fine.

To pave every road in the US with these solar panels, it would cost $56 trillion.

Can I ask how you got that number? I knew it would be insurmountably high, but didn't think it would be that high.

[MerinPally]

LED are super small..? Would be minimal if anything.

And how many LED do you think you need? You're vindicating me at this point you understand.

[Forgon]

To pave every road in the US with these solar panels, it would cost $56 trillion.

BTW, where are you getting this information? It's the first I've heard.

[The Kao]

What do you think? Excited? You should be!

If it only wasn't a project that's massive enough to take at least a few decades to implement even partially. I'd be lucky to see this actually working in one city during my life time, and I'm not that old yet. Would have been nice if we had had this ready like 200 years ago, before we decided to pave everything around us.

And then it's full of electronics. Electronics break eventually and can be vandalised as well, guess maintenance would still be as huge a factor as road maintenance is today. Where exactly is the difference between a broken up road piece and a defect multifunctional solar panel? There is none - both require work that'll probably not be done or pushed back as long as possible due to budget issues.

[nnelson54]

I did watch the video. BUt they never mention oversized loads on those trailers that have like 10 axels that pull things like power generators and yachts. I doubt it can withstand those.

I used to work at a lounge on top of a hotel that had a see through glass floor on the patio that was rated to withstand 23 tons of weight before it was in danger of cracking.