Solar Highway?

[DMOD]

This is very interesting and it makes sense.

http://www.wimp.com/solarhighways

 
The only major challenge I see is keeping the surface transparent enough to accept sunlight. Tires cary small abrasive particles in the rubber which would abrade the glass surface and distort it.
 
One very positive thing I see, other than power generation, is the fact the black surface would melt snow faster than concrete.
 

 
Phil - AC0OB

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I can't imagine that return on investment would even pay back the cost of 1 mile of this road in 50 years. let alone the cost of maintenance for electrical & roadway. 

Too many green schemes are pie-in-the-sky dreams.  Unless the government was to completely outlaw more financially viable surface materials, thereby forcing huge subsidy of this technology, or they somehow reduce the cost/increase the efficiency by orders of magnitude it's not gonna happen.

[DMOD]

I can't imagine that return on investment would even pay back the cost of 1 mile of this road in 50 years. let alone the cost of maintenance for electrical & roadway. 

Too many green schemes are pie-in-the-sky dreams.  Unless the government was to completely outlaw more financially viable surface materials, thereby forcing huge subsidy of this technology, or they somehow reduce the cost/increase the efficiency by orders of magnitude it's not gonna happen.

Agreed.

When I said make sense, I meant in an electrical, power generation way, in terms of "potential" power.

Another problem I see is is snow removal. Up here in the northern midwest, you have snow packed highways for at least three months out of the year.

Snow plows could do a lot of damage to the surface.

Phil - AC0OB

[W7TFO]

These guys and several other companies have what may amount to a better idea:

http://www.britesolar.com/

73DG

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I was thinking of plows too, or stuff falling from trucks, and SALT just leaching down into the circuits every winter, Salty Water running in circuits can't be good for them.

Actually, if you took the idea, but made solar ROOFING You might have something.  Glass would make a very good roof, and every building has one. While not a replacement for the power grid, if you take percentage, it's all good.  ROI is still low, which is the biggest problem with Photovoltaics.

[KA2DZT]

Dumbest idea I ever saw.

You can do the same thing by putting solar panels in open space near roadways or just about anywhere else.

The power company has been installing solar panels on many power poles for a few years.  They tie directly into the 240 volt line.  I think they are 120v single line and connect to one leg of the 240 line.

Fred

[Ed/KB1HYS]

It may be dumb, but that guy is probably getting a fat Federal Grant for developing it.

[KA2DZT]

It may be dumb, but that guy is probably getting a fat Federal Grant for developing it.

ED

You're probably right on with the grants, but figure were it's coming from, the gov.  Not the smartest folks on the planet.

I think Hams should be given grants when we get our license.  Hams probably have done more to advance technologies than any other group.

Fred

[flintstone mop]

Someone is using their brains. Looks like a complex project to manufacture the road surface, but the electronics are hermetically sealed. And by any manufacturing process there will be mishaps. Repair of the electronics looks daunting.
For some reason GREEN is not really paying off. Ex. Spain,,,,they abandoned their massive funding of solar.....we're buying that technology from them now.
Solar is for smaller distribution of electrical usage.

In a country where the grid is very reliable, the backup benefits of solar aren't very much. The USA is stuck on big centralized power stations.
Bad WX and an unreliable grid give solar a chance to survive.
In the Philippines they have terrible problems keeping the grid alive 24/7. We priced a solar backup/batteries and inverters to provide 8 hrs of power and it was $20K.....power outages can be from 2 hrs to days if it involves equipment failure at a substation.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

The issues with most 'green' tech is that it does not produce energy all the time and the efficiency is low.  Solar and wind both stop producing energy at times, and often when you need it most.  Storage of energy induces loss, along with conversion.  Not to mention Efficiency of both are pretty bad, with wind running the worst at about 7% or so. Solar electric is getting better all the time, but it's still DC and only part time.
 Then there is the fact that there is still plenty of power via the grid. We don't have a shortage of electricity (winter storms excepted).  We could produce more reliable cheap energy indefinitely, but people are restricting the options artificially.  Folks allow fear, ignorance, and special interests to dictate regulation and law, and then complain about the result!

[DMOD]

These guys and several other companies have what may amount to a better idea:

http://www.britesolar.com/

I hope they succeed.

It looks like a lot of good ideas are being kicked around but it appears so much is still in the R&D arena with little data about cost and efficiency.

Phil - AC0OB

[WD8BIL]

Unless the government was to completely outlaw more financially viable surface materials, thereby forcing huge subsidy of this technology, or they somehow reduce the cost/increase the efficiency by orders of magnitude it's not gonna happen.

Ya, that's worked really well in the past. 
Work to put money in someones pocket, that is.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

yea Buddly, the whole CFL fiasco comes to mind. 

But remember, "It's for the greater Good!"

[W7TFO]

Some observations:

Grid power is still a hellava bargain compared to making it yourself.

Oil & coal will become quite collectable in the future.

We have proven ourselves inept at safely slowing down the A-bomb to boil water to run turbines.

Fusion beats fission any day except for current practical science.

As is human nature, we will wait till other means of making electricity comes necessary before actually doing it right.

Your mileage, er, KWh consumption may vary.

73DG

[Steve - K4HX]

Yea, like the time the government outlawed horses so we could move to cars.

Unless the government was to completely outlaw more financially viable surface materials, thereby forcing huge subsidy of this technology, or they somehow reduce the cost/increase the efficiency by orders of magnitude it's not gonna happen.

Ya, that's worked really well in the past. 
Work to put money in someones pocket, that is.

[KB2WIG]

"   But remember, "It's for the greater Good!"  "

No, its   for the children.


klc

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Safe Nuclear power is available today. France has not had a single nuclear accident ever, despite decades of use. Other nuclear powers have excellent safety records as well.

Where modern plants are run, the safety record is very good. Safer than Cars by several orders of magnitude.

New reactor designs can reduce the expended fuel to just a few pounds of low-level radioactive ash, easily contained and dipsosed of.  We just can't build them because Fear and Ignorance fueld by folks with agendas make the cost so high there is no way you can run it as a business. 

Even with the US record, Wind power generators have killed more people in the US than nuclear power here.

Geothermal (the real kind) tapping into the earths core heat would be probably the best solution overall. Clean, waste free etc. The only thing preventing it's exploitation is the astronomical cost. Maybe we could get a big ole government grant to drill a deeeeep hole and try it, but those dang Volcano's emit many times more CO2 than all human endevors combined, so someone somewhere will gripe.

[WD8BIL]

Yea, like the time the government outlawed horses so we could move to cars.

Admittedly we can find instances where it did work out ok, Steve. But in the long run their still in a negative advantage region.

[W7TFO]

Safe Nuclear power is available today. France has not had a single nuclear accident ever, despite decades of use.

It just means France hasn't had a tidal wave or disaster (natural or otherwise)  come along and set things to ruin.

73DG

[Steve - K4HX]

That was a joke Buddly. 

The government never outlawed horses, nor did it outlaw Conestoga wagons in favor or trains. I'm pretty sure it did not outlaw oil lamps in favor of electric lamps and I'm positive it did not outlaw feet in favor of airplanes. In other words, nearly all the major technological advances in the past 200 years happened without the government outlawing anything. Yet, today, some people claim to know better. 

Yea, like the time the government outlawed horses so we could move to cars.

Admittedly we can find instances where it did work out ok, Steve. But in the long run their still in a negative advantage region.

[w3jn]

When Conestoga wagons are outlawed, only outlaws own Conestoga wagons.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Safe Nuclear power is available today. France has not had a single nuclear accident ever, despite decades of use.

It just means France hasn't had a tidal wave or disaster (natural or otherwise)  come along and set things to ruin.


73DG

I'd like to point out that the earth quake and tidal wave created several orders of magnitude more damage and destruction than the following reactor failure.  
Nature killed thousands, the reactor didn't kill anyone. The system failed slowly, when everything around it was reduced to piles of debris. There was time to get what few people were left alive out, and get response teams in.  The contamination from the reactor is just as serious as the resulting chemical and biological contramination from the other facilities destroyed by the events.  It just gets more attention because 'Radiation' is far more spectacular than Chemicals or Biomatter (Sewage, bodies etc).  Of the three, the biomass and radiation will be removed by natural processes even if humans did nothing, while the chemicals lost into the environment will remain there until forcibly removed.

There isn't any thing in the world that is designed to withstand TWO natural disasters of that magnitude.  That is like expecting to be ok after you crash your car into a brick wall at 50 mph and then get T-boned by a semi.


Oh and FWIW:  I'd be happy to work with someone who wanted to build a Solar Heating system for their home.