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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.

vision-master wrote:Already been done in Germany.

vtsnowedin wrote::lol: 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.

fletch_961 wrote:

vtsnowedin wrote::lol: 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.

How does 1760*7000=1.23 B?

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

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

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.

fletch_961 wrote:

vtsnowedin wrote::lol: 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.

How does 1760*7000=1.23 B?

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

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...

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...

built-in heating elements that could prevent roads from freezing

pstarr wrote:Would these work in a traffic jam? Wouldn't the sun be blocked?

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.

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

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