Solar FREAKING Roadways!!

[MerinPally]

What I am more surprised about is the fact that people believe this is good idea compared to the Chinese high speed railway (which is actually more plausible). Or the fact people also happen to believe we are actually going to get FTL drives. Seems to me people like to believe in bullshit more than actually possible technology.

Are you referring to Maglevs? To be honest this is possible, it's just not economical. It will get progressively more economical. I called bullshit 65 pages ago, because I understand the science. I don't expect anyone to take me as an authority but people need to remember that there are some people out there with a better grasp than themselves - I have no doubt there are many on this forum that could make me look scientifically illiterate. People like to think they get science and they don't, that's not a bad thing though at all nor is it a sign of stupidity/intelligence.

Still, I think I promised someone like 20-40 pages back that we'll wait a few years before I say "I told you so nerr nerr ne nerr nerr" over this particularly project, so I'll hold back.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Are you referring to Maglevs? To be honest this is possible, it's just not economical. It will get progressively more economical.

It's almost the same issue here. Maglevs have a long way to be economcailly viable, one of the major flaws with the concept is that instead of putting all the neccesary parts of your engine on the vehicle, you spread it out over the whole track. Or if you build it the other way around you have problems getting the energy into the train at higher speeds. Either way, it is an awsome system but it is fundametally flawed in it's practicallity compared to railways which are the simple part of the system and can be spread throughout a country relatvley easy, much like the solar roadways are compared to normal roadways.

There is no econimical reason behind any of this. Even if they claim they have no numbers yet, that either shows that the guy is the worst engineer ever and has no clue where he got the parts from or he just does't want to share them yet because reasons (most likely because it will be ludicrously expensive). They are sub-optimal when it comes to power generation and, even if their questionable use as a road material does turn out to work well, they are still the most akward and convoluted solution to a problem that wouldn't exist in the first place if they were placed in a decent spot instead.

[Difuid]

I like the idea to use the surface of roads for an additional function.

But there are quite a few questions that can doom this project concerning production, installation and maintenance without even touching functional viability of the building blocks.
I think we would be better off developing flying cars.

[Forgon]

I like the idea to use the surface of roads for an additional function.

But there are quite a few questions that can doom this project concerning production, installation and maintenance without even touching functional viability of the building blocks.
I think we would be better off developing flying cars.

I would discuss with you, but I just love how you tangented to flying cars!

[Deleted]

I wonder if anyone posted video of a guy explaining what bs solar roadways are, but my guess is that after 65 pages, there will be this video posted at least twice.

[Forgon]

I wonder if anyone posted video of a guy explaining what bs solar roadways are, but my guess is that after 65 pages, there will be this video posted at least twice.

More than twice.

[Supakaiser]

More hilarity ensues:

[TheTriforceKid]

There are tons of problems with that first of all, it's made of tiles. Let's see how well that holds together for 20+ years. Who's ever seen a freeway made of tiles? It wouldn't resist all that weight and vibration from cars and trucks going at a hundred miles an hour.
2. Very expensive to replace all roads in America and maintain it too cause it is going to break quite often.
3. It's made of glass, good luck driving on that when it's wet. But I guess potential increase in human casualties isn't a problem for radical environmentalists
4. Concerns of how to transport that energy
5. Roads get dirty fast, let's see how well they will absorb sun light

1.Someone has obviously never been to downtown Ardmore, oklahoma...where the roads, even after more than 100 years..are still "paved" with bricks..and still functional.
2.Like it wasn't expensive as hell to build the first Freeways and Turnpikes? Got a turnpike that's more than 30 years old in your area that you're STILL paying on, despite it having already paid for itself via tolls? Funny, same here..gee..I wonder why they're still sucking us dry quarter by quarter? That's right..someone has to pay to repair those roads still...might as well be the taxpayer, right? This negates any argument about having to replace roads, too, because the tiles can be laid over the top of existing concrete roadways at less cost.
3.It's CURRENTLY made of glass..and will eventually, hopefully, be made of sturdier materials, maybe even a hemp polymer with a tensile strength greater than steel, but is transparent? Think about it..everything we can make with crude oil, we can make with hemp oil. The plastics in your keyboard, the electronic boards, etc., even the screen could be made from high-density hemp polymers.
4. Transporting the energy would be the same as transporting energy through power lines..
5. Yes, roads get dirty...but if you can power wash concrete, I'm sure they'll invent a sort of street sweeper with high pressure systems for keeping the tiles clean and clear. Remember that technology begets technology...when you create one thing, it's likely you must create another thing to maintain that creation's existence in some way, just as human beings are replaced by machines, that then need to be maintained by human beings.