Posted on 05/14/2014 7:13:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Julie and Scott Brusaw.
There are about 31,251 square miles of roads, parking lots, driveways, playgrounds, bike paths, and sidewalks in the lower 48 states. If Julie and Scott Brusaw have their way, they will all someday be replaced with solar panels.
For the better part of a decade, the Idaho couple has been working on prototyping an industrial-strength panel that could withstand the weight of even the largest trucks. They now appear to have cracked the formula, developing a specially textured glass coating for the panels that can not only bear tremendous loads but also support standard tire traction.
By their reckoning, at peak installation their panelized roads could produce more than three times the electricity consumed in the U.S.
The material could power electric vehicles through a receiver plate mounted beneath the vehicle and a transmitter plate is installed in the road.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I have to wonder how these panels interact with the oils and grease that cars drop on the road.
I think it will be perfectly workable if the only traffic allowed is bicycles - at night.
Another way to get government grant money to the Green Worshipers. There is no way these panels will survive Houston heat and traffic in our 8-month summers.
Industrial strength dumb idea.
What impact will snow and snowplows have on these panels?
Oh, A flat plate ground-level receptor on a constantly rotating planet with a solar elevation angle of a moving star hidden by hundred of millions of constantly moving shadows under cars, trees, buildings, cloud cover, dust, pollen, and haze .....
Is “slightly less” than efficient.
Besides, NO solar panel can generate any more than 1/4 of the day (from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM) ... So you need to generate 4 times the energy needed at peak power (noon) and then re-create it from ??? storage until the power is needed the remaining 3/4 of the 24 hour day.
They won’t fix roads now so why would they go for this? They will not encourage roads under the principles of agenda 21.
It could definitely use more work and thought.
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Oh great, so if I fall off my bike, I’ll get a large electric shock. :^/
So...does this mean no more pot holes??? Im in!
Almost immediately. Road surfaces, especially those that carry heavy trucks, take an incredible beating.
Thinking out side of the box is what Solyndra did. Sometimes it is important to understand the science behind what you are doing before deciding that you have the answer.
Yes UV degradation is a problem but it is not the only problem...The voltaic cells are not going to see any appreciable amount of ‘sunlight’ (energy) at all. The plastic is going to absorb somewhere around 90% of the incoming (hence the degradation of which you speak).
One problem with solar panels is that when they are connected in series they are limited to the output of the worst producing panel. To connect them in parallel requires an inverter for each parallel connection which means a lot more equipment. For this road concept to work every “panel” would need to be connected in parallel otherwise the output would basically stop any time a car was driving on any part of series connected set of panels (not to mention the effect of dirt, snow, clouds, etc.) The amount of equipment necessary even for the small areas rendered would have astronomical costs.
Many years ago, Phillips Petroleum Company came up with a brilliant idea. Instead of crappy patches of cracks and potholes on roadways that only last a year or two, they came up with the idea of rolling out a Kevlar sheet on the roadbed before laying down the asphalt.
They figured that even in harsh conditions, roads could last a decade or two between repairs. It would cost more up front, but more than pay for itself in short order.
What Phillips didn’t count on was that every state in the US had a powerful road repair lobby, often affiliated with organized crime, and backed by strong unions. And such an invention would put 9 out of 10 of these companies out of business.
Which is why today we still have cracked and potholed roadways that get crappy patches every year.
The line in the song referred to a playground that was paved over for a parking lot.
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