An amazing energy idea, please take a look

[cloud9]

I found this video with what I think it's a great idea for generating electricity initially for homes and industries but perhaps later on after more research and modifications can be extended to vehicles that can be fed directly from the road they are on as the road is the collector of energy.

If somebody knows how to upload the video, it would be great, meanwhile I'll post the link.
Thank you.

http://www.wimp.com/solarhighways/

[Harley]

There Ya Go!

Solar Highways

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Harley

[lorien]

I think it's a great idea! Though it would take decades and trillions of dollars to make it happen :(

[Ilie Pandia]

Hello,

I might be wrong, but if memory serves producing a solar panel with 15% efficiency is very expensive (relative to the power you will get out of that cell over time), and you would also need to factor in the maintenance cost of such roads. While the idea is great I do not think is practical until the cost of the solar panel production and maintenance are lowered.

I remember two years back reading in one of Jaques Fresco (the venus project guy) that there is technology to create cheap 75% efficiency solar panels. That really caught my attention because at that time I wanted to switch my house to solar power alone. Unfortunately since then I did not find any reference to such technology. Maybe some of you know more about this.

Mean while I would suggest studying "anti-gravity" propulsion systems with advanced collision detection and avoidance so you will no longer need roads, and accidents will no longer be caused by human error ;)... (it may be cheaper also)

[cloud9]

I absolutely agree with the high cost problem but in the other hand, solar panels are a technology already proven, in use worldwide and as with many other things perhaps with more demand prices would go down in time, also cost of material is lower in other countries whereas anti-gravity systems are not yet known or understood for the average folk, it's still some kind of "mystery".
One of the good points about this idea is the fact that roads would be a "multitasking" structure perhaps well worth the price.

[Martin]

The main problem wich I see with all conventional solar-energy-technologies is that they are at the end not ecofriendly at all. Now we all know that solar panels are expensive. Why is that? Well, mainly because the resources needed to produce the panels are very rare. So if one wants to be ecofriendly he needs to spare the rarely available resources. As said earlier the efficiency (or maybe just the public-known) of solar panels isn't that great and then there is the sun. At best one could roughly count in 12 hours of sun a day, but sadly that is fiction. The same thing goes for wind turbines.

I am not that optimistic with all the "green-energy-revolution" nowadays.

MfG

Martin

[Ilie Pandia]

and as with many other things perhaps with more demand prices would go down in time

I agree with your point here! And I must say that in my opinion the cost production of solar panels is artificially held high to preven a "solar revolution". Since it is already working they can not say that it does not, but they can make it very expensive and inefficient.

I am pretty sure that, if effort and thought is put into it, you can come up with much cheaper, efficient and eco-friendly solar panels. (maybe as Jaques Fresco pointed out with 75% efficiency). But the current focus is NOT on that :). All you hear is: "Oh yeah.. solar panels... they are expensive and the production process not so green... so... will just stick to oil for now", instead of "How can we make this cheaper? By looking at how plants do it, maybe?" I am no chemist but I bet that there are many ways and chemicals that could be used to get the photo-voltaic effect. You just have to decide to look for them!

[ArtyCarl]

This is one of those ideas that looks great on paper but the costs would be prohibitively expensive. A little Googling finds that the current cost of a 12'x12' Solar Road Panel would cost $5000. Now believe it or not that is probably still a bit cheaper than creating a normal highway. The trouble is the entire road network is already in place and is the result of billions of dollars of investment over the years. At the current cost laying a mile of Solar Roadway would cost over $2m and that does not include maintenance costs. I am all for saving energy costs but there must be something more cost efficient than this available.

[Martin]

I agree with your point here! And I must say that in my opinion the cost production of solar panels is artificially held high to preven a "solar revolution". Since it is already working they can not say that it does not, but they can make it very expensive and inefficient.

I am pretty sure that, if effort and thought is put into it, you can come up with much cheaper, efficient and eco-friendly solar panels. (maybe as Jaques Fresco pointed out with 75% efficiency). But the current focus is NOT on that :). All you hear is: "Oh yeah.. solar panels... they are expensive and the production process not so green... so... will just stick to oil for now", instead of "How can we make this cheaper? By looking at how plants do it, maybe?" I am no chemist but I bet that there are many ways and chemicals that could be used to get the photo-voltaic effect. You just have to decide to look for them!

There may indeed be a solar technology that could be of tremendous help in solving our energy problem. But fact is that at the moment the to-us-known solar energy technology is not the answer. The problem is that solar-energy needs massiv funding to be established and all the money goes straight out of the peoples pockets to the big corporations and I doubt they will bring the change about that we need. But that may be another question though. In the meantime solar and wind parks are built everywhere. Yet to fulfil the role of our primary energy supply none of the both is fitted to cope. And don't get me started about installing solar panels in deserts which I find mad to say the least. This should be up to the people who life there or nearby, but to propose - for example - to help solve the european energy problem by getting our energy from the deserts in africa is ridiculous.

And let's not forget that CO2 is not our enemy here.


MfG


Martin

[Ahkenaten]

Using the Sun is good but I wonder how these panels could be hardened against damage from solar flares? If an investment is made either in individual panels for homes or retrofitting the infrastructure, surely this issue must be addressed sooner rather than later.

[cloud9]

The panels are made out of glass as strong as steel.

[str8thinker]

There seem to be two issues here.

First is the need to find an alternative to bitumen for paving roads; as oil reserves dwindle, the cost of bitumen is increasing at an alarming rate.

Second is the idea that choosing solar panels as an alternative will create a lot of cheap energy. Agree that producing any electronics is expensive as it consumes rare resources and is expensive to develop and maintain.

To invest in any technology like this, those with money need to be offered a more attractive ROI than they currently receive. Unless the technology is made cheap enough, the more roads and tollways they build using it, the fewer people there will be who can afford to drive on them.

Thus I can see a push in two directions:
(1) Find an alternative surfacing material (recycled rubber tyres?)
(2) Incorporate solar panelling into specific locations rather than create a whole road of it. Thus, all intersection lights could be solar-powered, with enough energy stored to power them at night too.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/solar-panel-highway.htm
http://gizmodo.com/5347896/super+tough-solar-panels-could-make-every-road-into-a-power-plant
(http://gizmodo.com/5347896/super+tough-solar-panels-could-make-every-road-into-a-power-plant)

[Ahkenaten]

cloud9 - does the glass protect against energy coming in from the Sun in the case of a flare? Thanks.

[sunnyrap]

Another great solar energy concept currently being used: cuts fossil fuel costs by 45% plus provides hot water...nice video on it:

http://www.smartplanet.com/technology/video/new-spin-on-solar-hot-water-and-electricity-in-one-system/6195151/

[bilko]

Can i interject a slightly off topic suggestion here...
I firmly believe that one of the problems we face is the amount of energy we consume without even realising it. How many people carelessly use heating and lighting? How many companies waste energy? Because we do not see it, we do not care ( generic ). If we had to collect and chop wood to equal the amount of energy we use we would soon start to treat it as the precious commodity that it is.

This is one of the first hurdles we should overcome.
Conserving energy.

For a start you could put all house holds on a key card system so people have to top it up regularly.
Devise a similar way for businesses to buy electricity too and they would soon turn off the lights or have motion sensors etc.