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THE Solar Road Thread (merged)

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THE Solar Road Thread (merged)

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 27 Aug 2009, 19:35:32

Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy
The Department of Energy just gave $100,000 to upstart company Solar Roadways, to develop 12-by-12-foot solar panels, dubbed "Solar Roads," that can be embedded into roads, pumping power into the grid. The panels may also feature LED road warnings and built-in heating elements that could prevent roads from freezing.

Each Solar Road panel can develop around 7.6 kwh of power each day, and each costs around $7,000. If widely adopted, they could realistically wean the US off fossil fuels: a mile-long stretch of four-lane highway could take 500 homes off the grid. If the entire US Interstate system made use of the panels, energy would no longer be a concern for the country.

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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby vision-master » Thu 27 Aug 2009, 19:38:49

Already been done in Germany.
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby vtsnowedin » Thu 27 Aug 2009, 20:08:12

:lol: 8O :shock: :P 12x12=144ft^2, four lane road without shoulders = 12x4x5280=253440ft^2 /144=1760 panels per mile X $7000/p=1.23 billion /mile. Should be real cheap electricity for the 500 homes if the Chinese lend it to them at 0% and the panels last a hundred years without maintenance. A solar panel that can take the impact from a 100,000 lb. truck at highway speeds a thousand times a day? I didn't know there was such a thing? Learn somtin new every day. :roll:
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 27 Aug 2009, 21:14:44

vision-master wrote:Already been done in Germany.


Can you find a reference to it? The only one I can find is this one, which has panels on the roof of a tunnel.
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby heroineworshipper » Thu 27 Aug 2009, 22:51:35

No, biology is the future of energy.
People first, then things, then dollars.
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby BigTex » Thu 27 Aug 2009, 23:03:02

There is a lot of this kind of innovation going on out there.

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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby fletch_961 » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 02:08:14

vtsnowedin wrote::lol: 8O :shock: :P 12x12=144ft^2, four lane road without shoulders = 12x4x5280=253440ft^2 /144=1760 panels per mile X $7000/p=1.23 billion /mile. Should be real cheap electricity for the 500 homes if the Chinese lend it to them at 0% and the panels last a hundred years without maintenance. A solar panel that can take the impact from a 100,000 lb. truck at highway speeds a thousand times a day? I didn't know there was such a thing? Learn somtin new every day. :roll:


How does 1760*7000=1.23 B?

Even using normal math (12.3 M) it would be a little pricey.
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby vtsnowedin » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 05:32:47

fletch_961 wrote:
vtsnowedin wrote::lol: 8O :shock: :P 12x12=144ft^2, four lane road without shoulders = 12x4x5280=253440ft^2 /144=1760 panels per mile X $7000/p=1.23 billion /mile. Should be real cheap electricity for the 500 homes if the Chinese lend it to them at 0% and the panels last a hundred years without maintenance. A solar panel that can take the impact from a 100,000 lb. truck at highway speeds a thousand times a day? I didn't know there was such a thing? Learn somtin new every day. :roll:


How does 1760*7000=1.23 B?

Even using normal math (12.3 M) it would be a little pricey.


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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby Tanada » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 07:20:07

Graeme wrote:Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

The Department of Energy just gave $100,000 to upstart company Solar Roadways, to develop 12-by-12-foot solar panels, dubbed "Solar Roads," that can be embedded into roads, pumping power into the grid. The panels may also feature LED road warnings and built-in heating elements that could prevent roads from freezing.

Each Solar Road panel can develop around 7.6 kwh of power each day, and each costs around $7,000. If widely adopted, they could realistically wean the US off fossil fuels: a mile-long stretch of four-lane highway could take 500 homes off the grid. If the entire US Interstate system made use of the panels, energy would no longer be a concern for the country.


popsci


That might work in Sunny California, but in cloudy Washington and Michigan their output is going to be meager, not to mention what a snow plow every two days for five months would do to these things.
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby vision-master » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 10:04:25

Graeme wrote:
vision-master wrote:Already been done in Germany.


Can you find a reference to it? The only one I can find is this one, which has panels on the roof of a tunnel.


Seen a special on I think 'the history channel' once.
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby SheikYarbhouti » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 11:37:25

fletch_961 wrote:
vtsnowedin wrote::lol: 8O :shock: :P 12x12=144ft^2, four lane road without shoulders = 12x4x5280=253440ft^2 /144=1760 panels per mile X $7000/p=1.23 billion /mile. Should be real cheap electricity for the 500 homes if the Chinese lend it to them at 0% and the panels last a hundred years without maintenance. A solar panel that can take the impact from a 100,000 lb. truck at highway speeds a thousand times a day? I didn't know there was such a thing? Learn somtin new every day. :roll:


How does 1760*7000=1.23 B?

Even using normal math (12.3 M) it would be a little pricey.


hm, 47 Trillion on a very good day for the whole shebang, says the back of my envelope. Probably much more. Not bad!

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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby VMarcHart » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 11:49:59

The cornucopian at work.

And then let's install wind generators along the 46,876 miles of interstate roads. Fifteen generators per mile using both shoulders and the medium of the interstate, 703,140 generators, each at 3 megawatts, that's 2.1 gigawatts. Enough to power every fat food restaurant and every 60-inch plasma TV in America.

And then let's curral sheep and goats to mow the grass along the interstates, collect the manure and power distributed biomass power plants every 50 miles. Again, enough to power every HVAC unit in America to ensure no home gets colder than 69F or hotter than 72F.

And then...
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby BigTex » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 11:54:35

VMarcHart wrote:The cornucopian at work.

And then let's install wind generators along the 46,876 miles of interstate roads. Fifteen generators per mile using both shoulders and the medium of the interstate, 703,140 generators, each at 3 megawatts, that's 2.1 gigawatts. Enough to power every fat food restaurant and every 60-inch plasma TV in America.

And then let's curral sheep and goats to mow the grass along the interstates, collect the manure and power distributed biomass power plants every 50 miles. Again, enough to power every HVAC unit in America to ensure no home gets colder than 69F or hotter than 72F.

And then...


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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby eXpat » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 12:09:39

VMarcHart wrote:The cornucopian at work.

And then let's install wind generators along the 46,876 miles of interstate roads. Fifteen generators per mile using both shoulders and the medium of the interstate, 703,140 generators, each at 3 megawatts, that's 2.1 gigawatts. Enough to power every fat food restaurant and every 60-inch plasma TV in America.

And then let's curral sheep and goats to mow the grass along the interstates, collect the manure and power distributed biomass power plants every 50 miles. Again, enough to power every HVAC unit in America to ensure no home gets colder than 69F or hotter than 72F.

And then...

And then NANOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :P
NANO RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and bioengineered stuff!!!!
I think that covers almost over everything :twisted:
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby like_the_dinosaurs » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 14:48:21

built-in heating elements that could prevent roads from freezing


Yes, we are going to solve our energy problems by using more energy to wait for it........ F%&King warm roads. lol
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby VMarcHart » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 15:02:17

pstarr wrote:Would these work in a traffic jam? Wouldn't the sun be blocked?
Goddamit, pstarr. You and your stupid doom views always putting a torpedo in the cornucopian boat.

:lol:
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby Serial_Worrier » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 17:07:54

Here we go again with more cornucopian bs. No amount of technology will save us. Doom I say. The end is nigh.
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby yesplease » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 21:23:30

VMarcHart wrote:
pstarr wrote:Would these work in a traffic jam? Wouldn't the sun be blocked?
Goddamit, pstarr. You and your stupid doom views always putting a torpedo in the cornucopian boat.

:lol:
Fer sure! Cuz midday, when solar output would be maximal, the freeways are just one big parking lot. It's not like we've ever seen traffic jams in the morning or evening, when people tend to go and come back from work. ;)

And sheesh, look at all the cars in this jam, we can only see what 80+% of the pavement?
Image

:lol:
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Re: Solar Panels Built Into Roads Could Be the Future of Energy

Unread postby yesplease » Fri 28 Aug 2009, 21:41:15

fletch_961 wrote:How does 1760*7000=1.23 B?

Even using normal math (12.3 M) it would be a little pricey.
At $60/bbl, four lane roads are about $4 million per mile, last seven years, and cost about $570,000 per year. At $12.3 million per mile, the solar road thingy would need to last about 12 years to equal the cost of an asphalt version.
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