Solar Roads – A Revolutionary Idea

[mathewrobert]

A solar road sounds great idea having its own advantages and disadvantages. LEDs built into the tops of solar panels placed on highways could move lanes around, create crosswalks, display speed limits and even detect and warn drivers about road hazards like stopped traffic and crossing wildlife. Best of all, the panels could be laid down over existing asphalt.

Though its beneficial to create solar roads but what about the cost. The infrastructure required to build and maintain them. The cost involved for maintaining asphalt road is much less compared to solar roads. Each panel cost approximately $7,000 to build. Also, the durability of the roads is questionable as the roads might have to bear the load of cars, trucks etc. and need some fixing working if accident takes place.

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[dR-Green]

Also, the durability of the roads is questionable as the roads might have to bear the load of cars, trucks etc.

Hehe. "Might"? If it can't then it's back to the drawing board. Why would it be beneficial to have a solar road though? What's the advantage of this? Yes given idealistic technology and unlimited funding/the inverse of greed in business it would save a lot of space, but as we as humanity currently stand, there's no way this is going to work or happen any time soon. It's just not practical on any level as far as I can see. Better figure out how to make that metal disk get off the ground I think.

[noeladdison]

I wonder if this will be implemented. It will need a huge amount of money (initial investment) to build that solar road. But if that plan will be implemented I know that it will be beneficial to our society.

[kyle]

Hi Guys.....

The idea sounds pretty interesting but need a huge investment... But not seems realistic, as most of the part of the Europe prevails the cloudy climate.....

[142857]

Much more benificial would be a method of converting energy spent on the road back into somthing useable....using the already present traffic as fuel.

simple example would be a sort of wind turbine in/on concrete dividers on highways, harnessing wind created by traffic.

coils in the street, magnets in cars....(in principal)

seems to me there is alot of so to speak risidual energy just from the act of moving a car from one place to another.

Heck, a small wind turbine atop a simi trailer could generate a good bit of useable energy, without effecting the trucks preformance....more bang for the fossil fuel buck we are already spending.

lots of energy on the road....everyday all the time.

[Pierre Monteux]

If you get down to it, its more likely for a power company to buy the median of a highway and mount the solar panels there.

For this to work though, the cost of solar panels per watt of power needs to diminish greatly until it is competitive with a regular power plant.

As to using traffic for power generation, there is no free lunch there, just shifting of costs. It takes energy to spin a motor, and that energy comes from somewhere. Putting a magnet on a car and coils around the road just takes the cars gas mileage way down. (Toll road ideas anyone?) Its free energy as far as the owner of the coils goes, but to the driver, its a toll that he's paying in gasoline, since the magnets will create a drag similar to riding the brakes.

Theres a reason why people trying for insane gas mileage work hard for aerodynamics, drag counts. If you add air resistance you hurt gas mileage. Really, if you want to capture wasted energy you add work to the alternator to charge a second battery. But is the gasoline engine the most efficient way to do that?

Personally, when we get the flexible solar panels and can make the roof/hood/trunk of a car into a solar panel, then you've got something.