We love smart technology. Enhancing our lives with everything from new phones to virtual worlds which we can hold meetings and play games in. We’ve even started creating self-driving cars and smart artificial assistants. The problem is that while we are creating more and more technology to use, we are often left using old technology or resources to enjoy our new gadgets. One such example is the road you go on to drive those new self-driving cars, ever notice how they haven’t changed in so many years? Route 66 may change that as it plans to be the testing grounds for the solar road, a whole new type of road that will replace old tarmac with new technology.
Solar Road’s are designed as not just a way of leading your path from A to B but as a way of gathering sunlight, rather than wasting the sunlight that traditionally hit roads. The idea is that the initial test will check to see if the new roads can gather enough solar energy to be viable. Combine their power generating abilities with the LED lights and heating elements that will melt away snow, the added bonus of their quick to repair nature and tempered glass means that potholes will become a thing of the past.
With so many benefits, we can only hope that the trial is a success so that we welcome Solar Roadways to the world as we get to enjoy smoother safer roads.
At the risk of getting 4000 hate comments and a load of abuse from people assuming im some kind of corporate shill for oil companies, also, i do not claim to be a scientist or an engineer or mathematician, but.
This shit was debunked as unfeasible about 18 months ago, by not only multiple scientifically literate youtubers, but by actual engineers and physicists and general scientists, the numbers do not add up.
This is assuming they are still trying to go with the “solar freaking roadways” plan they had originally on Kickstarter, which claimed massive power output and minimal maintenance and eco friendly nature. Not only are the numbers not right, the actual concept of using the LED’s to create lane markings is practically impossible for DAY TIME use, when most cars are on the road, blocking the solar cells, further diminishing the power that is collected, the LED technology that is currently available is not bright enough to make visible road markings when the sun is on the road directly, the reflection from the glass surface and the brightness of the sun obscure the LEDs, the road markings may be visible under certain conditions or visible if you are really trying to see them (by taking focus away from driving and really looking hard out the window to see them)
Dont get me wrong, i am all for alternative energy and would really love this idea to work, but when the numbers don’t add up, they don’t add up, there is no magic that can make them change.
There are massive swathes of deserts and plains that are not used by us, land that is effectively wasted, land that could have hundreds of thousands of solar cells set up to focus and collect all the sun light that falls in those areas, enough energy reaches and passes through our atmosphere from the sun every day than could be used in a year, if we setup these kind of “rural” solar cells, there is potentially unlimited, uninterrupted supply of solar energy, especially in desert areas, with little rain and cloud, but also these areas are where there would be minimal impact on wildlife and the surrounding ecosystem. That is more viable than sticking solar panels under thick tempered recycled glass, which is then going to be set under the vehicles on the road which at peak traffic times will be almost entirely obscured and therefore generate nominal energy.
If its possible could you refer us to your source material about these being debunked. We like posting the facts and if that is the case I would be happy to do a follow up article explaining the pros and cons of the technology (working or not) and its alternatives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocV-RnVQdcs
This video from Thunderf00t is really good with plenty of reasons why this road is not a good idea at all, from calculating the power it could possibly generate to the cost of manufacturing.
He also does some cool experiments to test the viability.