Glass Solar Powered Digital Highways (1 Viewer)

[Buddy Ball 2K3]

Official Website

This year (2010) alone, we've lost lives in coal mine and oil rig disasters and gas line explosions. The Gulf of Mexico has become a nightmare: lives and jobs lost - ways of life gone. What (more) is it going to take to drive us to wean ourselves off of our dependency on fossil fuels?

Years ago, when the phrase "Global Warming" began gaining popularity, we started batting around the idea of replacing asphalt and concrete surfaces with solar panels that could be driven upon. We thought of the "black box" on airplanes: We didn't know what material that black box was made of, but it seemed to be able to protect sensitive electronics from the worst of airline crashes.

Suppose we made a section of road out of this material and housed solar cells to collect energy, which could pay for the cost of the panel, thereby creating a road that would pay for itself over time. What if we added LEDs to "paint" the road lines from beneath, lighting up the road for safer night time driving? What if we added a heating element in the surface (like the defrosting wire in the rear window of our cars) to prevent snow/ice accumulation in northern climates? The ideas and possibilities just continued to roll in and the Solar Roadway project was born.

In 2009, we received a contract from the Federal Highway Administration to build the first ever Solar Road Panel prototype. During the course of its construction, we learned many lessons and discovered new and better ways to approach this project. These methods and discoveries are discussed throughout this website. Please enjoy and send us any questions that you may have.

The heart of the Solar Roadway™ is the

Solar Road Panel™

The Solar Roadway is 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 Panels that collect energy to be used by our homes and businesses. Our ultimate goal is to be able to store excess energy in or alongside the Solar Roadways. 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.

Each individual panel consists of three basic layers:

Road Surface Layer - translucent and high-strength, it is rough enough to provide great traction, yet still passes sunlight through to the solar collector cells embedded within, along with LEDs and a heating element. It is capable of handling today's heaviest loads under the worst of conditions. Weatherproof, it protects the electronics layer beneath it.

Electronics Layer Contains a microprocessor board with support circuitry for sensing loads on the surface and controlling a heating element. No more snow/ice removal and no more school/business closings due to inclement weather. The on-board microprocessor controls lighting, communications, monitoring, etc. With a communications device every 12 feet, the Solar Roadway is an intelligent highway system.

Base Plate LayerLayer - While the electronics layer collects energy from the sun, it is the base plate layer that distributes power (collected from the electronics layer) and data signals (phone, TV, internet, etc.) "downline" to all homes and businesses connected to the Solar Roadway. Weatherproof, it protects the electronics layer above it.

 

[Dragons]

This has been posted in the past. It's a fascinating idea. Is it any closer to reality?

 

[Sam Quentin]

Article bring to mind this...

 

[roadkill1292]

We touched on Solar Roadways in this thread, which had some pretty cool discussion. The company estimates that it would take a couple of trillion to install enough panels to power the country completely. If the cost of a panel can get down to $7000 and generate $100 worth of electricity every month, then that's not an unreasonable payback and I'm glad entrepreneurs like this guy are working on stuff like this.

New energy generation and driving technologies are great subjects.

 

[Sam Quentin]

We touched on Solar Roadways in this thread, which had some pretty cool discussion. The company estimates that it would take a couple of trillion to install enough panels to power the country completely. If the cost of a panel can get down to $7000 and generate $100 worth of electricity every month, then that's not an unreasonable payback and I'm glad entrepreneurs like this guy are working on stuff like this.

New energy generation and driving technologies are great subjects.

Why don't they start with one smallish forward-looking citymaybe a few stretches of highway near a major metropolitan area as a proff of concept?

 

[videoguy505]

We thought of the "black box" on airplanes: We didn't know what material that black box was made of, but it seemed to be able to protect sensitive electronics from the worst of airline crashes.Suppose we made a section of road out of this material and housed solar cells to collect energy

"What's the deal with a plane's 'black box?' If the black box is the only thing that survives a crash, why not build the whole plane out of black box?" [/seinfeld]

 

[Drifter]

We touched on Solar Roadways in this thread, which had some pretty cool discussion. The company estimates that it would take a couple of trillion to install enough panels to power the country completely. If the cost of a panel can get down to $7000 and generate $100 worth of electricity every month, then that's not an unreasonable payback and I'm glad entrepreneurs like this guy are working on stuff like this.

New energy generation and driving technologies are great subjects.

Why don't they start with one smallish forward-looking citymaybe a few stretches of highway near a major metropolitan area as a proff of concept?

They'll start with parks and small businesses first.

It's pretty interesting stuff. I would also assume this technology would also go hand in hand with auto pilot driving. Long Haul trucking could become a thing of the past with very large unmanned (or lightly manned) cargo carriers eventually replacing tractor trailer setups

 

[Mario Kart]

I think a good place to start this would be at an airport. Keep the main runways concrete if it is deemed not stable enough but the side runways where planes "drive" on as well as in the parking areas... seems like a good place to start.

 

[culdeus]

I think a good place to start this would be at an airport. Keep the main runways concrete if it is deemed not stable enough but the side runways where planes "drive" on as well as in the parking areas... seems like a good place to start.

You realize how heavy planes are, right?

 

[joffer]

Electronics Layer Contains a microprocessor board with support circuitry for sensing loads on the surface and controlling a heating element. No more snow/ice removal and no more school/business closings due to inclement weather. The on-board microprocessor controls lighting, communications, monitoring, etc. With a communications device every 12 feet, the Solar Roadway is an intelligent highway system.

KIDS> suck it!

 

[roadkill1292]

We touched on Solar Roadways in this thread, which had some pretty cool discussion. The company estimates that it would take a couple of trillion to install enough panels to power the country completely. If the cost of a panel can get down to $7000 and generate $100 worth of electricity every month, then that's not an unreasonable payback and I'm glad entrepreneurs like this guy are working on stuff like this.

New energy generation and driving technologies are great subjects.

Why don't they start with one smallish forward-looking citymaybe a few stretches of highway near a major metropolitan area as a proff of concept?

They'll start with parks and small businesses first.

It's pretty interesting stuff. I would also assume this technology would also go hand in hand with auto pilot driving. Long Haul trucking could become a thing of the past with very large unmanned (or lightly manned) cargo carriers eventually replacing tractor trailer setups

Parking lots, which we have a lot of and which get less strain from traffic and which private enterprise can get in on the investment, could be the right starting place.If this concept works, it could be the launching pad for a lot of driverless technologies.

edit to answer Sam: yes, we don't have to do it all at once. This kind of system can be built at whatever speed of expenditure we're comfortable with, unlike some of the new transportation concepts like computer-controlled guideways.

 

[Josie Maran]

We touched on Solar Roadways in this thread, which had some pretty cool discussion. The company estimates that it would take a couple of trillion to install enough panels to power the country completely. If the cost of a panel can get down to $7000 and generate $100 worth of electricity every month, then that's not an unreasonable payback and I'm glad entrepreneurs like this guy are working on stuff like this.

New energy generation and driving technologies are great subjects.

Why don't they start with one smallish forward-looking citymaybe a few stretches of highway near a major metropolitan area as a proff of concept?

They'll start with parks and small businesses first.

It's pretty interesting stuff. I would also assume this technology would also go hand in hand with auto pilot driving. Long Haul trucking could become a thing of the past with very large unmanned (or lightly manned) cargo carriers eventually replacing tractor trailer setups

Parking lots, which we have a lot of and which get less strain from traffic and which private enterprise can get in on the investment, could be the right starting place.If this concept works, it could be the launching pad for a lot of driverless technologies.

edit to answer Sam: yes, we don't have to do it all at once. This kind of system can be built at whatever speed of expenditure we're comfortable with, unlike some of the new transportation concepts like computer-controlled guideways.

Ummmm, parking lots might be a problem because, you know, people park their cars there. Tough to get much solar power when a Yukon is sitting on top of the solar panel.

 

[videoguy505]

Was just reading a few weeks back that some dudes invented solar panels that work underground. Like, in the basement. Would solve the whole issue of needed landspace.

Basically, it worked by stringing a bunch of fiber-optic style collector cable from the surface to pipe the light down to the racks of panels below ground. They could stack the panels on top of each other, using exponentially less square footage, to convert the same amount of sunlight.

 

[roadkill1292]

We touched on Solar Roadways in this thread, which had some pretty cool discussion. The company estimates that it would take a couple of trillion to install enough panels to power the country completely. If the cost of a panel can get down to $7000 and generate $100 worth of electricity every month, then that's not an unreasonable payback and I'm glad entrepreneurs like this guy are working on stuff like this.

New energy generation and driving technologies are great subjects.

Why don't they start with one smallish forward-looking citymaybe a few stretches of highway near a major metropolitan area as a proff of concept?

They'll start with parks and small businesses first.

It's pretty interesting stuff. I would also assume this technology would also go hand in hand with auto pilot driving. Long Haul trucking could become a thing of the past with very large unmanned (or lightly manned) cargo carriers eventually replacing tractor trailer setups

Parking lots, which we have a lot of and which get less strain from traffic and which private enterprise can get in on the investment, could be the right starting place.If this concept works, it could be the launching pad for a lot of driverless technologies.

edit to answer Sam: yes, we don't have to do it all at once. This kind of system can be built at whatever speed of expenditure we're comfortable with, unlike some of the new transportation concepts like computer-controlled guideways.

Ummmm, parking lots might be a problem because, you know, people park their cars there. Tough to get much solar power when a Yukon is sitting on top of the solar panel.

We got lots of them that are hardly ever full and the lanes take up a big chunk of even the full ones. And, again, there's the private ownership issue that will ameliorate the public costs affiliated with the highways.I work at a 24,000 sf building full of small businesses and warehouse space. We must have a half lane mile of empty asphalt soaking up the sun around it. And we're just one small part of our industrial park.

 

[roadkill1292]

Another really interesting concept in development now in South Korea is power strips installed beneath the road surface itself. Since the technological roadblock with electric cars is currently battery capacity, this has the potential to be huge -- your electric car could have a modest-sized and -priced battery in it with a minimal (50-100 mile) range and pick up its power right from the roadway.

The Koreans estimate a cost of about $500,000 per mile, which translates to about $13 billion for 25,000 miles of our nation's highways. Since we spend about $250 billion annually for gasoline at the pump, this would seem to be a good investment. The downside, of course, is that the road doesn't generate its own power like the Solar Roadways but would require additional sources of electricty, which is an entirely different problem unless a marriage between the two concepts could be arranged. Here's one news story about it.

One last note: the Israelis are currently studying a proposal to embark on an infrastructure program to have battery-changing stations built at various spots around the country. Much like refueling, the driver would simply pull into the station and swap out his battery for a new one, and then motor for the next 100 miles. This only works in a very small country but I'm still glad to see someone try this out as it could lead to something else down the road.

 

[Godsbrother]

If this is ever done I am guessing that Pennsylvania will lead the nation in solar potholes.

 

[Gigantomachia]

We touched on Solar Roadways in this thread, which had some pretty cool discussion. The company estimates that it would take a couple of trillion to install enough panels to power the country completely. If the cost of a panel can get down to $7000 and generate $100 worth of electricity every month, then that's not an unreasonable payback and I'm glad entrepreneurs like this guy are working on stuff like this.

New energy generation and driving technologies are great subjects.

Why don't they start with one smallish forward-looking citymaybe a few stretches of highway near a major metropolitan area as a proff of concept?

They'll start with parks and small businesses first.

It's pretty interesting stuff. I would also assume this technology would also go hand in hand with auto pilot driving. Long Haul trucking could become a thing of the past with very large unmanned (or lightly manned) cargo carriers eventually replacing tractor trailer setups

they took our jobs!!

 

[Chewbanks]

We touched on Solar Roadways in this thread, which had some pretty cool discussion. The company estimates that it would take a couple of trillion to install enough panels to power the country completely. If the cost of a panel can get down to $7000 and generate $100 worth of electricity every month, then that's not an unreasonable payback and I'm glad entrepreneurs like this guy are working on stuff like this.

New energy generation and driving technologies are great subjects.

Why don't they start with one smallish forward-looking citymaybe a few stretches of highway near a major metropolitan area as a proff of concept?

How many extra panels will it take to make up for the energy loss from the graffiti covering them?

 

[dhockster]

We got lots of them that are hardly ever full and the lanes take up a big chunk of even the full ones. And, again, there's the private ownership issue that will ameliorate the public costs affiliated with the highways.I work at a 24,000 sf building full of small businesses and warehouse space. We must have a half lane mile of empty asphalt soaking up the sun around it. And we're just one small part of our industrial park.

I went to their website and it made the same basic point: even when a parking lot is full, there is still plenty of surface area exposed to the sun. In addition, there are plenty of big parking lots, like mall and stadium parking lots that are only full a fraction of the time.The Company that is going to make the solar panels is going to start out with their own parking lot which will help to power the factory making the solar panels. I love the concept, but with any new, great technology it will probably take a lot longer to become reality than we want.

 

[Godsbrother]

PennDOT once paved over a deer and then couldn't figure out why there was such a bump in the road. Should be fun to see them try to install and hook up solar panels in the road. I am betting at least half of them would be placed upside-down.

 

[Sam Quentin]

We got lots of them that are hardly ever full and the lanes take up a big chunk of even the full ones. And, again, there's the private ownership issue that will ameliorate the public costs affiliated with the highways.I work at a 24,000 sf building full of small businesses and warehouse space. We must have a half lane mile of empty asphalt soaking up the sun around it. And we're just one small part of our industrial park.

I went to their website and it made the same basic point: even when a parking lot is full, there is still plenty of surface area exposed to the sun. In addition, there are plenty of big parking lots, like mall and stadium parking lots that are only full a fraction of the time.The Company that is going to make the solar panels is going to start out with their own parking lot which will help to power the factory making the solar panels. I love the concept, but with any new, great technology it will probably take a lot longer to become reality than we want.

I've waiting 20 years for high-speed rail

 

[Mario Kart]

PennDOT once paved over a deer and then couldn't figure out why there was such a bump in the road. Should be fun to see them try to install and hook up solar panels in the road. I am betting at least half of them would be placed upside-down.

"THIS SIDE UP" in big yellow letters should help the installer.

 

[heckmanm]

PennDOT once paved over a deer and then couldn't figure out why there was such a bump in the road. Should be fun to see them try to install and hook up solar panels in the road. I am betting at least half of them would be placed upside-down.

"THIS SIDE UP" in big yellow LEDshould help the installer.

They could manufacture the panels so that this is the default display when exposed to sunlight

 

[Mario Kart]

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/11/3657220/solaroad-producing-energy/