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Idaho inventor pushes solar panels for roads, highways
ny daily news ^ | 7-11-2014

Posted on 07/11/2014 9:56:41 AM PDT by Citizen Zed

The solar panels that Idaho inventor Scott Brusaw has built aren’t meant for rooftops. They are meant for roads, driveways, parking lots, bike trails and, eventually, highways.

Brusaw, an electrical engineer, says the hexagon-shaped panels can withstand the wear and tear that comes from inclement weather and vehicles, big and small, to generate electricity.

“We need to rebuild our infrastructure,” said Brusaw, the head of Solar Roadways, based in Sandpoint, Idaho, about 90 miles northeast of Spokane, Washington. His idea contains “something for everyone to like.”

(Excerpt) Read more at m.nydailynews.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: indiegogo; photovoltaics; solarroadways; solyndra
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Are the Feds paying for this too?


1 posted on 07/11/2014 9:56:41 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
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To: Citizen Zed

When you hear that the highway trust fund is empty and that taxes need to be raised because money is urgently needed for the “nation’s crumbling infrastructure,” keep in mind that the money will be spent on this type of nonsense.


2 posted on 07/11/2014 9:58:25 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: Citizen Zed

How is the efficiency with snow cover, dirt, plow damage, the pounding of 18-wheelers, etc.


3 posted on 07/11/2014 9:59:37 AM PDT by headstamp 2
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To: Citizen Zed

This was talked about and thoroughly debunked a couple of months ago here.


4 posted on 07/11/2014 10:01:20 AM PDT by DManA
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

It seemed like a good idea, until I found out that I paid for it, but our public treasury doesn’t appear to be part-owner of the patent(s).


5 posted on 07/11/2014 10:02:41 AM PDT by gspurlock (http://www.backyardfence.wordpress.com)
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To: Citizen Zed

CLU ...you are to build the perfect system...


6 posted on 07/11/2014 10:03:24 AM PDT by BCW (Amazon Books: "Babylon's Covert War" - the Iraq conflict explained in detail - by JH White)
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To: DManA

For example:

http://cleantechnica.com/2014/06/12/video-solar-roadways-good-true/


7 posted on 07/11/2014 10:04:40 AM PDT by DManA
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To: Citizen Zed

All it’s going to take is one 18-wheeler with a blown tire, running on its rim, to tear up miles of this stuff.

Plus, there’s no way I can think of that they can make the surface as durable as asphalt or concrete, not to mention all the traction concerns.

To me, this sounds like another great idea (which it is, at least in theory) that is so impractical as to be impracticable.


8 posted on 07/11/2014 10:04:57 AM PDT by Quality_Not_Quantity (Liars use facts when the truth doesn't suit their purposes.)
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To: Citizen Zed

Bury them in snow. Then run vehicles over them until the snow is as hard as concrete. Then run a snowplow over them at speed. Experiment over.


9 posted on 07/11/2014 10:09:02 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck (Socialism consumes EVERYTHING)
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To: Citizen Zed

The next Solyndra.


10 posted on 07/11/2014 10:09:04 AM PDT by CrazyIvan (I lost my phased plasma rifle in a tragic hovercraft accident.)
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To: Citizen Zed

you bet your ass. This guy is brilliant. NIce barn, beautiful view, great summers, ok winters and he has figured out how to get you to pay for it all by selling a dumb idea like this.

Everybody knows that highways don’t settle, snow plows don’t ever tear anything up, tires never go flat, freeze thaw cycle never cracks anything etc.

Of course solar panels aren’t brittle and wires aren’t fragile.

No wonder the idiots are smiling... they actually got taxpayer money for this.


11 posted on 07/11/2014 10:12:20 AM PDT by Sequoyah101
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To: headstamp 2

And when traffic is backed-up over the panels at rush hour they won’t get much light.


12 posted on 07/11/2014 10:14:12 AM PDT by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Implementing class warfare by having no class.)
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To: Paine in the Neck

His wife thought it up after watching an inconvenient truth.

I keep forgetting that on average that all people are average. That is scary. It gets worse though, individually half of them are below average. That is terrifying.


13 posted on 07/11/2014 10:17:39 AM PDT by Sequoyah101
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity

May not be a bad idea for sidewalks and side streets perhaps.


14 posted on 07/11/2014 10:23:24 AM PDT by DonaldC (A nation cannot stand in the absence of religious principle.)
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To: reg45

“And when traffic is backed-up over the panels at rush hour they won’t get much light.”

Not just bumper to bumper traffic blocking the sunlight, but what if there is a cloudy day or if the sun goes down?

Furthermore, I find it quite a coincidence that as soon as America becomes the world’s leader in oil production, there is a big movement to make solar generating highways and parking lots.

What does this say to the oil companies that have invested billions of dollars into domestic oil and gas production and to all those men who are now employed in the energy sector?


15 posted on 07/11/2014 10:27:49 AM PDT by Oliviaforever
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To: Citizen Zed

It always looks pretty at the beginning —

Put it on a 100 foot stretch of rural road and see how it holds up through several seasons of rain, ice, snow and traffic.


16 posted on 07/11/2014 10:28:50 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
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To: Citizen Zed

SOLAR ! FREAKIN ! IDIOCY !!!!


17 posted on 07/11/2014 10:29:28 AM PDT by Salgak
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To: Citizen Zed

If this went through, the guy would stand to make beaucoup money (un peu de francais).

Will they then get rid of those intensely revolting bird crunchers a.k.a. wind turbines, that make us America the Ugly.


18 posted on 07/11/2014 10:52:52 AM PDT by 353FMG
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To: headstamp 2

First thing I thought of too. Efficiency when they are scratched beyond recognition from normal wear and tear. No one seems to properly test for this stuff, NO ONE. None of the methods I have seen implemented come close to real life wear and tear especially when considering accelerated life testing and simulation.


19 posted on 07/11/2014 10:56:47 AM PDT by jurroppi1 (The only thing you "pass to see what's in it" is a stool sample. h/t MrB)
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To: DonaldC
May not be a bad idea for sidewalks and side streets perhaps.

except for the theft aspect. In a nation where the caps to fire hydrants are long missing, where street light wiring is stolen on a regular basis for recycle value, not so good an idea.

20 posted on 07/11/2014 11:31:15 AM PDT by blueplum
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