If you want to change the world, you have to think big. Say what you want about the feasibility of Scott Brusaw's idea to replace asphalt roads with miles of solar ribbons that cars and trucks can drive on, it is a very ambitious idea. Brusaw is the co-founder and CEO of Solar Roadways, a bootstrapped startup in Idaho. He is an engineer, and is building prototypes of solar panels that could be used as roads.
Brusaw wants to create solar panels strong enough to support the weight of cars and trucks driving at 80 miles per hour. There is so much road surface in America, that the collected energy could replace other forms of fossil fuel energy, even with really inefficient solar panels. Even better, since roads go to each home and business, the roads themselves would not only collect the energy, but distribute it. The energy wouldn't power cars themselves, except maybe electric vehicles juicing up at roadside charging stations. LEDs could be built into the roadways and used as signs. The concept is explained in the video below, which is part of a larger film project called YERT (Your Environmental Roadtrip).
The video shows Brusaw building some of these solar road panels in what looks like a garage. The Infrastructurist blog calls the scheme "dubious." But the big, unanswered question is how much would this cost. It most definitely would cost more than conventional roads, which are under-funded already. But regular roads can't offset their costs by producing energy (this is all assuming the technology can actually work at scale without too much maintenance). It also most definitely would cost more than plain-vanilla solar panels.
If the idea is "roads that pay for themselves" these cost issues need to be addressed before anyone will take this concept seriously. It is not clear why paving the country's roads with glass is a better energy solution than simply setting up solar energy farms which connect to the existing energy grid. I'd really like to see what the proposed cost of these roadways would be and what the payback period would be in terms of energy produced.
The other question this raises is what would be the lifespan of these roadways compared to regular asphalt. And how often would the panels need to be replaced simply to take advantage of improving solar technology and better solar panels. Will we have to upgrade our roads every two years, and who is going to pay for that? Still, I like the fact that Brusaw is swinging for the fences and actually trying to build prototypes.
Update: Brusaw answers with some numbers. "We're still in the prototyping stages," he says Brusaw, "so we haven't manufactured anything yet. Our target price is $10K per panel." Each panel is 12โฒ X 12โฒ, so it would take 440 panels for each mile of single-lane road. That is $4.4 million per mile, which he figures will produce enough electricity (7600 watt-hours per day) to power 428 homes. He thinks the payback period would be 20 years, and would drop significantly with manufacturing scale.
If you take this ridiculous idea serious for a few seconds then why not skip this step all together and just go for mag-levitation or something like it? Power the vehicle though the road? Seems like a very in the box idea to just upgrade the road, same cars, same old motors, same old same old... also, more wireless? Good grief.
System
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2010-08-03T13:14:11Z
I commend and encourage Scott Brusaw.
While this idea may seem over-ambitious at this time, there is no reason to discourage research in this area. Our infrastructure is crumbling and constantly under repair - I know, I drive I95. This is an excellent idea which solves many problems at once. Replacing the roads, parking areas, utility cables, hanging where any storm can devastate them, and especially the coal and oil and nuclear plants with solar should have and would have started in the 70's, but were shelved when big oil government came in with Reagan and deregulation. Solar tech (without much help from the government) has come a long way, and will continue to advance as has the Light Emitting Diode, tumbling in cost as production volume is ramped up. My whole kitchen is lit by LEDs - beautiful light in any color I desire and using 1/10th the power of conventional bulbs. Way, way better those nasty CFLs. What good is mag-lev if it is powered by (mostly) coal?
This is the only way that we can have electric cars that don't simply move the pollution to the power plants.
Decentralizing power production has many advantages, especially if it is solar!
There are some immediate concerns that come to mind for me:
Their short- and long-term durability against wear and environmental forces is important. Could they withstand golf ball or even baseball sized hail? What about areas with geological activity that could damage roads, or areas prone to flooding? Could dirt or dust build up on the roads and reduce the energy output? Also, wouldn't constant use create rubber tire marks on the road that would block sunlight?
Traction is also important. How good is a glass surface for driving on (assuming durability is not an issue), considering all possible weather conditions? I presume that rubber on glass could give great traction when dry and free of dust, but a flat, smooth surface seems like a bad idea when dust, oil, rain, ice, and snow are added to the mix. I imagine that some sort of textured surface must be used to reduce the potential for hydroplaning.
Also, this change would have a strong effect on road laws. The government could choose to install pressure sensors in these roads, allowing detailed monitoring of traffic density and speed. If such sensors are used, it will be very easy for them to detect when a lone car is speeding, and it will make tracking vehicles easier (giving each car an ID that can be monitored via modules in the road might be a potential). Also, with these roads being more valuable and more fragile than asphalt and cement roads, traffic laws may become more strict in places where these are installed, because collisions could damage the roads.
Despite my concerns, overall, I like the idea. At the very least, the technology may allow people to have solar driveways.
I've had enough of someone else's propaganda. I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against. I'm a human being first and foremost, and as such I am for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.
- Malcolm X
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If you take this ridiculous idea serious for a few seconds then why not skip this step all together and just go for mag-levitation or something like it? Power the vehicle though the road? Seems like a very in the box idea to just upgrade the road, same cars, same old motors, same old same old... also, more wireless? Good grief.