Solar Panel Roadways

[HuskyCaucasian]

http://www.americainfra.com/news/solar-roadways/

There is approximately more than 5.7 million miles of paved highway in the United States and in a bid to find new sustainable ways of producing renewable energy, one small Idaho company believes they've found the solution: solar roadways.

 

According to their website, www.solarroadways.com, the idea revolves around "a series of structurally-engineered solar panels that are driven upon. The idea is to replace all current petroleum-based asphalt roads, parking lots, and driveways with Solar Road PanelsTM that collect and store solar energy to be used by our homes and businesses. This renewable energy replaces the need for the current fossil fuels used for the generation of electricity. This, in turn, cuts greenhouse gases literally in half."

 

In America, the idea has received a lot of media attention after The Department of Transport awarded the company $100,000 to construct a prototype 12' by 12' panel.

.....

Oh, and then there's the price tag - US $35 trillion. Yes, TRILLION. With a 'T'. Each panel is 'currently' predicted to cost around $7,000. Obama's current health-care reform is only meant to cost a measly $1 trillion.

I thought this was, while most completely impossible (price tag not withstanding), a really neat idea.

[Texsox]

http://www.americainfra.com/news/solar-roadways/

 

I thought this was, while most completely impossible (price tag not withstanding), a really neat idea.

 

Prices always fall with technology, unless that is already factored in. That is an awesome idea. But I am thinking about all the other factors that a roadway has to have. Safety, wet weather traction, snow removal, etc etc etc. Just amazing if it would work. Home models would seem like the first application.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Prices always fall with technology, unless that is already factored in. That is an awesome idea. But I am thinking about all the other factors that a roadway has to have. Safety, wet weather traction, snow removal, etc etc etc. Just amazing if it would work. Home models would seem like the first application.

Some sort of solar roofing shingle material is the first logical step to me.

Edited September 25, 2009 by Athomeboy_2000

[southsideirish71]

Don't see how that is practical for this area. I think between the winter weather, the plows getting snow off the ground and whatever de-icing strategy they put in should kill those expensive panels pretty quickly.

 

I would like to see this work on homes, and businesses. We are looking at using Solar in the summer to offset our air conditioning costs in our Data Center.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2009 by southsideirish71

[Texsox]

Some sort of solar roofing shingle material is the first logical step to me.

 

Definitely before roadways, I meant first step for solar roadways. I see a home application before US 94 or 35th St.

[BigSqwert]

Off topic but how come there aren't a ton of giant wind turbines in the middle of the great lakes?

[NorthSideSox72]

Some sort of solar roofing shingle material is the first logical step to me.

Those already exist, as it happens.

 

[NorthSideSox72]

Don't see how that is practical for this area. I think between the winter weather, the plows getting snow off the ground and whatever de-icing strategy they put in should kill those expensive panels pretty quickly.

 

I would like to see this work on homes, and businesses. We are looking at using Solar in the summer to offset our air conditioning costs in our Data Center.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of a distributed solar system where individual homes and businesses are incented (viat tax rebates and what not) to buy panels and contribute to the +/- net grid system.

 

[Balta1701]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of a distributed solar system where individual homes and businesses are incented (viat tax rebates and what not) to buy panels and contribute to the +/- net grid system.

You should familiarize yourself with the German "Feed-in tariff" model. Despite a fairly cloudy climate, it's helped make Germany one of the world's top solar producers and has set it up well for significant renewable energy job growth over the next 10 years.

[CanOfCorn]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of a distributed solar system where individual homes and businesses are incented (viat tax rebates and what not) to buy panels and contribute to the +/- net grid system.

 

I would love to do that on my house, but I would have to cut down the huge Oaks on the West side of my house. Which I'm not willing, nor is the city willing to do. Although, those trees keep the late afternoon sun off our roof, which cools our house and keeps our AC off longer. Do I get that tax rebate?

[southsider2k5]

Off topic but how come there aren't a ton of giant wind turbines in the middle of the great lakes?

 

I would guess the same reason they aren't off of Cape Cod... NIMBY's.

[BigSqwert]

I would guess the same reason they aren't off of Cape Cod... NIMBY's.

If they were far enough off shore no one would even see them.

[southsider2k5]

If they were far enough off shore no one would even see them.

 

I live in Michigan City, and I can see Chicago from my beach most days. That is 30 miles over the water.

[BigSqwert]

I live in Michigan City, and I can see Chicago from my beach most days. That is 30 miles over the water.

But isn't it 30 miles across the shore line as in my rudimentary drawing? I'm talking out in the middle.

 

[Balta1701]

Off topic but how come there aren't a ton of giant wind turbines in the middle of the great lakes?

Because the federal regulatory system for wind farm development has been an abject disaster for the last 10 years. Subsidies exist one year, are promised for future years, then vanish, then reappear. Projects get started then go bankrupt when the subsidy system changes and all the investors pull out, then have to start from scratch a couple years later when the regulatory environment changes again. Then you throw in fossil fuel volatility and the lack of a price on carbon or pollution, and the fact that the lakes themselves are an easy resource for water for fossil fuel plants, and there's just not been any way to get a firmly established program.

 

Then you have years of legal cases tied up because some rich family in Massachusetts doesn't want their view spoiled (you can guess the name of the family) and every wind farm project in the country winds up tied up because if the feds will listen to a NIMBY case when its backed by the right Senator that sets precedent for the rest of the country.

 

If it was ever actually done, there's enough wind on those lakes that if you harvested it, you could power the midwest forever. But it's a symptom of our broken state and national politics that none are there.

[Balta1701]

But isn't it 30 miles across the shore line as in my rudimentary drawing? I'm talking out in the middle.

 

But if he can see chicago, he can also see anything that is 30 miles in any direction.

[BigSqwert]

When you say you can see Chicago what does that mean? A small speck of what looks like the Sears Willis Tower? Wind turbines are much smaller than that and probably wouldn't be as easy to spot 30 miles out in the water. And if they are then build them 40 or 50 miles out.

[NorthSideSox72]

When you say you can see Chicago what does that mean? A small speck of what looks like the Sears Willis Tower? Wind turbines are much smaller than that and probably wouldn't be as easy to spot 30 miles out in the water. And if they are then build them 40 or 50 miles out.

Actually I'd think that's probably true - a 50 foot tall object, which is no taller than a large iron freighter, is probably only visible 10 or 15 miles out at best.

 

Lake Superior may be more ideal being larger, but its further from a significant draw off the grid.

 

[southsider2k5]

But isn't it 30 miles across the shore line as in my rudimentary drawing? I'm talking out in the middle.

 

 

Actually its almost all of the way around the other side, but not quite straight across. Put Michigan City into google maps and get good and panned out. I know the lake widens out, but the I don't think it ever gets wide enough to wear you could put something more than 30 miles away from one of the coasts.

[southsider2k5]

When you say you can see Chicago what does that mean? A small speck of what looks like the Sears Willis Tower? Wind turbines are much smaller than that and probably wouldn't be as easy to spot 30 miles out in the water. And if they are then build them 40 or 50 miles out.

 

 

Nope. You can see a couple dozen buildings, including many of the smaller ones in enough clarity to be able to name which one it is.

[southsider2k5]

Here is a pic from a couple of winters ago, with little to no zoom.

 

[Rex Kickass]

Nope. You can see a couple dozen buildings, including many of the smaller ones in enough clarity to be able to name which one it is.

 

On a clear day, you can see something like the Parachute Drop on Coney Island (which is not that tall) from about 20 miles away.

[bmags]

bigsqwert how would you expect those turbines to connect to any sort of grid?

[Texsox]

bigsqwert how would you expect those turbines to connect to any sort of grid?

 

We have pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, hundreds of miles of them, actually, thousands of miles of them, so getting the power will not be that difficult, it is actually easier than working on land permits.

 

We have a new housing development going in down here that will feature a turbine at every house. The cost is about $10,000 after rebates and such with what is projected to be a 9 year ROI. Currently there is a small manufactured home that sits at what will be the entrance and it has one already running.

[Texsox]

Map of pipelines. Green is oil, red is gas. And they extend from here all the way to the east coast and on up to you Yankees, so don't f*** with us or we'll flip the valve and shut y'all off.