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THE Solar Road Thread (merged)

Discussions of conventional and alternative energy production technologies.

Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Tue 13 May 2014, 09:05:18

sub - So just to carry the idea further you would construct a canopy that would support many tons of accumulated snow? Maybe use some of that "free energy" to melt the snow. But if the snow is covering that panels then no power. OK...so a huge storage system with a secondary feed back to the panels to melt the snow. And, of course, a drainage system to keep the water off the roadway to avoid the hydroplaning you mentioned.

I'm actually starting to enjoy fleshing this plan out. Since we're building the canopy why not run an electric connection along the underside just like the street cars in New Orleans use and then electric vehicles could connect up and run that way. And with all that free energy maybe they could devise a way to deliver $5 cups of Starbucks to you while drilling.

Any other add-ons I've missed?
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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Subjectivist » Tue 13 May 2014, 09:59:30

ROCKMAN wrote:sub - So just to carry the idea further you would construct a canopy that would support many tons of accumulated snow? Maybe use some of that "free energy" to melt the snow. But if the snow is covering that panels then no power. OK...so a huge storage system with a secondary feed back to the panels to melt the snow. And, of course, a drainage system to keep the water off the roadway to avoid the hydroplaning you mentioned.

I'm actually starting to enjoy fleshing this plan out. Since we're building the canopy why not run an electric connection along the underside just like the street cars in New Orleans use and then electric vehicles could connect up and run that way. And with all that free energy maybe they could devise a way to deliver $5 cups of Starbucks to you while drilling.

Any other add-ons I've missed?


You obviously build all your solar roadways on east/west routs and build the canopies with a 45 degree slope so the percipitation falls down them with the north edge being the high point. If you install those heaters you mentioned make sure you set the thermostat to 35 F so you don't have to waste extra heat, you just have to prevent ice from building up and coating the roof and solar panals. If you install your cantenary wire system you could equip the semi tractors and busses to draw power from the grid.

Gee this is fun, we can pull all sorts of stuff out of our cornucopia of ideas. Too bad we don't have unlimited funds to make them reality.
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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Tue 13 May 2014, 10:03:10

sub - Exactly. When you don't have to worry about cost nothing is impossible.
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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Timo » Tue 13 May 2014, 10:24:26

Here's my idea. Similar concept, but alternate technology. Here in my state, we have about 400 miles of toll road highways, all seperated each direction of travel by a 4' concrete barrier. That's just my state. Nationwide, i suspect there a many, many more miles of highway built in this fashion. When a car or truck drives by at 80 miles an hour, it generates a a strong wind gust. Multiply that gust of wind by 80,000 trips each direction every day, and you have a fairly constant source of wind power. My idea is to place a vertical axis wind turbine every 100 feet along that concrete barrier, with the electrical line running underneath that same barrier, being uploaded to the grid at every section line bridge. VAWTs aren't as efficient as HAWTs, but they are a lot cheaper, and MUCH easier to maintain. The heights are also much more variable, so you wouldn't need 300' towers being built down the middle of the road. A VAWT would only need to be 30' to 40' in height to capture the wind generated by passing cars and trucks. What VAWTs lack in effieciency, they would make for in volume.

Any takers? Crowdfunding this idea might make me a few bucks.
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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Tanada » Tue 13 May 2014, 11:14:58

Actually it occurred to me a long time ago that you could just put a solid tunnel shell around each side of the expressway totally enclosing the environment, with solar cells on top. Then you use the solar power to run giant fans blowing air into the tunnels in the same direction as the traffic flow. On a sunny summer day you give ever truck, semi and car in the tunnel a 60 mph tail wind, which grossly reduces their wind resistance and increases their fuel efficiency about double while provide fresh clean air in the tunnel and preventing suffocation. Every mile or so their would be a safety exit and open spot so on cloudy days and at night air can still get in and out. Ta-Da I just more than doubled vehicle fuel efficiency while keeping the same fleet of cars, trucks and semi-tractors already built and in use. Beat that ROFL!
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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Graeme » Tue 13 May 2014, 19:20:52

Solar-powered roads could refuel cars as they drive

A NETWORK of solar-powered roads made of durable textured glass could recharge electric vehicles while they're on the move, according to the founders of Solar Roadways.

Scott Brusaw, an electrical engineer, and his wife Julie have already built a working prototype outside their electronics lab. Now they're hoping to put the idea into production using money raised through Indiegogo, a crowd-funding website.

Where did the idea come from?
The pair set up the company after working on the idea of embedding solar-powered lights and heating elements into the road surface to improve safety at night or in icy conditions.

Having developed suitably rugged solar cells, they looked into how they might use them to generating electricity for the national grid – or to power the cars running over them.



When will production start?
Production will begin once the project reaches its funding goal of $1m, for which the company has set a target date of May 31. The campaign has so far raised $100,000.

Solar road surfaces are likely to make their first appearances in car parks and driveways before being rolled out onto the road network.


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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 15 May 2014, 20:18:45

Department Of Transportation Funds Solar Roadways Project

The Department of Energy may be getting a lot of press these days for its big-dollar loans to EV automakers, but the Department of Transportation is doing its own small part to brighten the future, too. The DOT recently awarded Solar Roadways (warning: crappy website ahead) a $100,000 contract to prototype its proposed -- wait for it -- solar roadway. Upside: LEDs embedded in the pavement create dividing lines and easily changeable signage, and solar cells generate power for the grid. Also: all those hours you spent playing Night Driver might finally pay off.


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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Newfie » Fri 16 May 2014, 08:33:23

Grahame,

Two very different projects.

But since we have cast this thread adrift, here is one sorta roadway related, about a real project in NJ.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/scien ... d=all&_r=0

ORADELL, N.J. — Nancy and Eric Olsen could not pinpoint exactly when it happened or how. All they knew was one moment they had a pastoral view of a soccer field and the woods from their 1920s colonial-style house; the next all they could see were three solar panels.

“I hate them,” Mr. Olsen, 40, said of the row of panels attached to electrical poles across the street. “It’s just an eyesore.”

Around the corner lives Tom Trobiano, 61, a liquor salesman, now adapting to the lone solar panel hanging over his driveway. “When it’s up close,” he said, “the panel takes on a life of its own.”


They destroyed the "pastoral view" of the soccer field?

Oh, the HORROR!
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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Subjectivist » Fri 16 May 2014, 09:19:56

NIMBYism at its finest.
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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Newfie » Fri 16 May 2014, 23:11:02

Can you imagine the outrage if they destroyed an entire Walmart parking lot? :-D

Hey, maybe there is some good here after all!
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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Outcast_Searcher » Sun 18 May 2014, 00:54:35

Graeme wrote:That Amazing 'Solar Roadways' Project Has a Working Prototype

They now have a working prototype featuring hexagonal panels that cover a 12-by-36-foot parking lot.

Really? A whole massive 12 by 36 foot parking lot? And it's working?

We're saved!!

Oh, wait. I just checked and my ordinary two lane street is 8 yards, or 24 feet wide. So this prototype equals about an 18 foot span of typical U.S. residential 2 lane road.

So how much did this cost to build? How much will it cost to maintain? How efficient will it be when snow, rain, dirt, etc. interferes?

This is about like saying that since IBM hand-built a tiny "IBM" out of individual molecules that we are on the threshold of harnessing nanotechnology to make anything, any time we want.

Get back to me when they have reliable cost figures on building and maintaining, say 100 miles of road with this technology. (29,333 times as large as the parking lot cited, by my math). Oh, and let us know how much energy they actually get from this.

THEN, maybe we can actually decide whether this is viable or not.
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.
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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Graeme » Mon 19 May 2014, 18:13:34

Solar Freakin' Roadways Electrify Clean Energy Generation (Video)

As the once far-fetched idea of "solar roadways" gains a huge convoy of supporters--from the US Department of Transportation to Google to the Times of India to even Fox News -- a new video aimed at the millennial generation is set to go viral again, according to clean energy advocates.

This just might be the most inspiring, riveting and definitive roadmap for clean energy independence -- Solar Freakin' Roadways:


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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Newfie » Mon 19 May 2014, 21:53:39

There is NO information in that story. None.
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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Graeme » Mon 19 May 2014, 22:31:36

Google supports this project. More here.
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Re: These Solar Roads Could Power The Entire Country

Unread postby Graeme » Sun 25 May 2014, 18:39:45

With 6 days to go, it seems that the target of $1 million has been reached!!

Backers pledge more than $1M for solar roads

A company in the United States has raised more than $1 million to start making roads entirely out of solar panels.

They say the panels could produce three times the electricity the US needs, and a New Zealand scientist says there's potential for the technology here too.

It may seem like science fiction, but the Solar Roadways project wants to make energy-generating roads a reality.

"We can't keep building asphalt roads, doing the same thing we've been doing since Eisenhower opened the federal highway system in the 1950s – it's time to move on," says Solar Roadways co-founder Scott Brusaw.


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Re: THE Solar Road Thread (merged)

Unread postby Tanada » Wed 28 May 2014, 18:55:11

Nice little puff video about the technology is now going around Facebook. Lots of promises, very few actual facts about time/cost/labor/maintenance/energy output.

http://youtu.be/qlTA3rnpgzU
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