[AndyJackson]

Ok. I won't be snide. I will be quite direct. The reason for reflecting light from a building is to decrease heatloads on the building, which have to be removed by airconditioning. Capturing some of it is a losing proposition, since the amount of heat you now trap on the building is more than 10 times the energy you produce. Air conditioning away that heat takes another multiple of several. So for every kJ of heat you absorb, you have to expend several to remove it, but produce 1/10th of a kilojoule in electrical energy to help you remove it with.

If you try to capture the energy in the subvelocity airflow around the car you will increasse the drag on the car, unless you get so far from the car (the median barrier) that most of the flow energy has already dissipated into thin air.

This is not the first guy to try to violate the first and second laws of thermodynamics and he won't, sadly, be the last.

You will find that for every attempt to find a free ride on mother nature there is a pitfal, trap or swindle. You could find it depressing or you could wake up and realize that at least there is a perfectly wonderful opportunity before us already, nuclear power, and so god did not abandon us after all.

[AFreeBird]

So why not put the see-thru solar cell coating before the reflective coating and capture what you can, and still reflect the heat.

[steve-b]

The energy to run stuff in the building adds to its heat load no matter where the energy came from, so it’s a net wash.