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?
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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.
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.
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.”
Graeme wrote:That Amazing 'Solar Roadways' Project Has a Working PrototypeThey now have a working prototype featuring hexagonal panels that cover a 12-by-36-foot parking lot.
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:
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.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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