carolla's picture

carolla

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Solar Roadways

Saw this today - found it to be an amazing concept on so many levels.  Would be remarkable to see it come to be in my lifetime ... replacing oil-based asphalt with such an extraordinary system. 

 


 

This is some serious out-of-the-box thinking - next generation? 

Hopefully more money gets poured into research & development. 

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carolla's picture

carolla

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Really - no replies yet?  Doesn't anybody else think this is pretty cool? 

InannaWhimsey's picture

InannaWhimsey

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SUPER FRICKIN AWESOME!

 

i see they're close to their goal :3

Pinga's picture

Pinga

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It's interesting.

 

I am thinking of coders/hackers right now, intentionally changing the road patterns, or the liabilities in the US when a LED goes out.

 

Technology is wonderful until it fails.

 

I like the idea a lot of generating the power.  I am not so sure about the coding parts.

chemgal's picture

chemgal

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The product is interesting.  I wasn't a fan of the video.

 

I wonder how well it would hold up, especially in places with widely fluctuating temperatures.  I think Pinga makes good points too.

 

I'm guessing it would be seen in parking lots or similar places before hiways.

InannaWhimsey's picture

InannaWhimsey

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here is their indiegogo page

 

i like the idea of powering my house and appliances through the roadway

 

and perhaps this could provide a solution to the cost of hooking up people's dwellings to the 'net/cable?

 

the advertising possibilities...

 

See video

InannaWhimsey's picture

InannaWhimsey

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See video

See video

Google's page on Moonshots* with some vids on the various projects

 

* see also Google X

 

 

 

Dcn. Jae's picture

Dcn. Jae

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Those roadways are pretty kewl. However, in the not too distant future we won't need roads anymore.

carolla's picture

carolla

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Good point pinga re the hackers & litigators ... they are everywhere aren't they? 

 

What I really like about this is the notion of completely re-imagining such a major surface in our developed world.  In this TEDx talk the developer talks about the journey that took him & his wife down the path to imagining a different future.  Not the best TED talk I've seen, but lends insight into the project & its many dimensions. 

 


 

revjohn's picture

revjohn

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I like the idea.

 

Particularly like the application which would indicate an object on the road like a moose or pedestrian.

 

 

Pinga's picture

Pinga

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I was driving down the road yesterday and I could faintly hear sirens in the distance. Sure enough, there were the firetrucks headed my way.  I had started to move to the right and slow down when I heard the clues, but stopped when they were within sight. 

 

Wouldn't it be interesting if the path of the emergency crew could be shared, ie, flash the road red when an emergency crew is coming through, move over.  Or , flash the yellow when a police officer is on the side with a car pulled over.  

Flash the road red when there is a blockage ahead, such as in a fog or snowstorm to stop all those massive pile ups.

Jim Kenney's picture

Jim Kenney

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It is a very interesting concept.  Wonder about durability, initial costs, environmental impacts of the material needed that is not from recycled material (LEDs require, I believe, a variety of materials, some of which are toxic (arsenic, lead, silver).

Dcn. Jae's picture

Dcn. Jae

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The colour-changing possibilities of the solar roadways lead me to wonder how long will it be after they're installed that advertisements will start being run on them.

chansen's picture

chansen

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Jae, that's a really good point.

 

Blocky, 8-bit ads, but still.

 

The prime challenges in Canada will be just like asphalt and concrete - road salt, freeze-thaw, frost heave, and snow plows.

 

Dcn. Jae's picture

Dcn. Jae

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chansen wrote:

Jae, that's a really good point.

 

Blocky, 8-bit ads, but still.

 

The prime challenges in Canada will be just like asphalt and concrete - road salt, freeze-thaw, frost heave, and snow plows.

 

Only 8-bit, eh? Hm, I hadn't thought of that. Still, I suppose it's good enough to depict the golden arches, the Coke swirl, the Nike swipe, etc.

carolla's picture

carolla

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chansen - they interestingly suggest that 'defrosters' could be integrated into them to keep the surface just warm enough to eliminate need for plowing etc.  Would be pretty interesting.  Good city application - maybe not so effective in areas with massive drifting.  Don't know about frost heave tho - would pehaps leave some massive potholes!!

 

carolla's picture

carolla

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cool idea pinga re colour coding approach of emergency vehicles - I often hear them long before I see them - wondering where they're coming from, taking some of my attention to try to figure that out. 

 

hmmm ... advertising ... could happen!  But distraction factor might over-ride; nah - on second thought - income generation would probably prevail!

chemgal's picture

chemgal

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carolla wrote:

chansen - they interestingly suggest that 'defrosters' could be integrated into them to keep the surface just warm enough to eliminate need for plowing etc.  Would be pretty interesting.  Good city application - maybe not so effective in areas with massive drifting.  Don't know about frost heave tho - would pehaps leave some massive potholes!!

 

 

They said that, but I have trouble believing it.  Maybe for -10, but what about -40?

Pinga's picture

Pinga

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Re potholes, the construction is such that they are suspended on frames, like an elevated roadway. The power and infrastructure runs under it, do shouldn't be an issue

InannaWhimsey's picture

InannaWhimsey

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hmm, i'm imagining Jae driving in his timbit Google driverless car playing match3frog on the road :3

carolla's picture

carolla

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since they made their target of $1million in crowdsourced funding, I hope we keep hearing more about this development.  No doubt there will be glitches - there always are in doing new things - that's how we learn, right?   We're a long way from using perfected asphalt roadways too - and how long has that been around? 

 

I'd love to see them redo part of the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto in this solar roadway stuff - that would be pretty interesting. 

InannaWhimsey's picture

InannaWhimsey

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carolla,

 

i can see the opening ceremonies in my mind's eye as well...they close off the expressway to traffic and let people walk along the new surface...there are refreshments...a nice, jazzy light & sound show from the road, maybe some Enya or Handel...

 

hopefully it will give google fiber better access to more cities (as opposed to the just 32 right now) with FREE BROADBAND INTERNET

 

putting this whole thang into a Christian lens, this is g_ds work :3  for the greater good

 

 

Pinga's picture

Pinga

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love the image, innannawhimsey

Dcn. Jae's picture

Dcn. Jae

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InannaWhimsey wrote:

hmm, i'm imagining Jae driving in his timbit Google driverless car playing match3frog on the road :3

 

laugh Delightful.

Kimmio's picture

Kimmio

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It might be better to use symbols instead of colour codes because of colour blindness. (I was reading about Mr. Rogers the other day and it was mentioned he was red green colour blind which would mean he would have needed to rely on the position of the lights at an intersection.) Apparently 10% of males are red green colour blind. That's quite a few! And since red and green are universally recognized for stop and go just having lights pop up on the road wouldn't be helpful for them unless there was something else they could recognize.


Keeping a few good old fashioned street lights and stop signs around for back up wouldn't be a bad idea either. And road flaggers would eventually start to lose their jobs...like mail carriers started to the more email was used. That's a downside. Replacing all the jobs with technology so that only those who work with high technology have any jobs left. A kind of technological totalitarianism- a downside of the leisurely freedom and convenience it brings. People stop having to think and plan for themselves. Also, if there was a disruption to the system it could be chaotic and dangerous with no back up. That would be a problem. The road itself is more durable though. That's good. Melting the ice on the road- or preventing it- also good.

carolla's picture

carolla

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Today I passed a stop sign that had little red lights all around its perimeter - and a small solar panel on the top of it, I imagine to power the lights.  Interesting. 

carolla's picture

carolla

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I do sense there is another job evolution coming, as you point out Kimmio.  Many factory jobs are also now done robotically.  Heck, even surgery is now being done by robots!!  But that's taking us a little off topic. 

InannaWhimsey's picture

InannaWhimsey

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carolla wrote:

Today I passed a stop sign that had little red lights all around its perimeter - and a small solar panel on the top of it, I imagine to power the lights.  Interesting. 

 

Was it pretty?  Can you upload a picture of it here?

chansen's picture

chansen

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It seems more and more like my initial skepticism is being confirmed.

 

The best debunking of this idea I've seen is below. He breaks it down into the multiple reasons why this is a pipe dream, if not a scam.

 

See video

 

 

Kimmio's picture

Kimmio

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carolla wrote:

Today I passed a stop sign that had little red lights all around its perimeter - and a small solar panel on the top of it, I imagine to power the lights.  Interesting. 


That's a good idea.

chemgal's picture

chemgal

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Thanks Chansen.  I only got through a few minutes, I'll go back to it.  Sounds like many of the issues when Joe Blow comes up with an idea for an industry they don't work in.  If it was a good idea industry would probably be working with it already.

 

I'm guessing these will have there places somewhere, eventually.

carolla's picture

carolla

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inanna - I didn't take a photo of the stop sign - but as I recall it looked like this one from an internet pic - 

InannaWhimsey's picture

InannaWhimsey

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ty carolla -- that would be so pretty at night :3

 

omgs at the tunderft video...a caveat with anyone who endeavours to talk with him -- he has a code of conduct that, once you cross it, you'll always be 'persona non grata' in his book (i've seen it happen to PZ Myers and another person so far).  otherwise, i really enjoy his passion, his voice, video editing & chemistry videos

 

The video's concerns i think are covered, except for the glass, in the solarroad's FAQ

 

http://www.solarroadways.com/

chansen's picture

chansen

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That FAQ doesn't address that you can't see LEDs in direct sunlight (kinda important for lane markings), the relative softness of glass and therefore how quickly it will go from textured to smooth, how much power it will take to melt snow, how you store the power you create during sunny periods to be used when it isn't, how recycled coloured glass can be made into clear glass, etc.

 

And reusing the existing roadway? You're either raising the road, or you're rebuilding the road, with concrete. That will be massively expensive.

 

They need better surface technology first. Glass won't cut it, so to speak. They need better lighting technology that can be seen in the daylight. They haven't addressed impact loads on glass, at all. Glass shatters - asphalt doesn't.

 

The more you look at this, the worse it becomes.

 

We need better technology before this can happen.

 

carolla's picture

carolla

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chansen - for sure it will take lots of trials to figure things out ... but gotta start somewhere, right?  

 

How many tries did it take Edison before the lightbulb actually worked?  

 

And all those remote controls we now use daily without much thought?  Did you know that they were originally a device developed by OTs & engineers to make life more manageable for people with varying levels of paralysis?   "Environmental controls" - recalled from decades ago, very early in my career!  Open the window blinds, unlock the door, turn appliances/lamps on & off from one's bed.  Now we have 'smart houses' that work through touch or voice command on our computers!

carolla's picture

carolla

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We experienced  these solar road markers in use when we were in England a few years ago - probably best where no plowing or road salt are used!  But very helpful on those winding roads! 


chansen's picture

chansen

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carolla wrote:

chansen - for sure it will take lots of trials to figure things out ... but gotta start somewhere, right?  

Absolutely. This is something that could work, but not with the technology demonstrated in the video. They try to sell it such that they could start mass producing these panels today. That would be a disaster, because they are not near ready for prime time. Nowhere close.

 

If you paved a short section of highway with the panels in the video, there would be no lane markings visible in the daylight, they would smash on impact with anything falling, they would be worn smooth in days, and people would literally die in accidents due to all the the above.

 

Seriously. People would be killed in a trial of what they are suggesting.

 

InannaWhimsey's picture

InannaWhimsey

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carolla,

 

solar roadways are definitely a long-term project :3

 

i'm glad they've got such a group of skilled experts to help them :3

InannaWhimsey's picture

InannaWhimsey

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See video

 

See video

 

See video

 

See video

 

self-healing metal

 

See video

 

See video

InannaWhimsey's picture

InannaWhimsey

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here's another vid by thunderhoof, where he looks at the energy requirements for just the LEDs

 

(man, but he's got a sexxy voice)

 

See video

stardust's picture

stardust

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InannaWhimsey

Gotta get me one of those self driving cars...progress...man oh man...yes. Your vids are all so marvellous and intelligent if only  I have the patience to watch them.

 

What's gone wrong with us all ? Its like we're wired up in our heads...the message is....."hurry, hurry,hurry.."...if we're on the net. 

 

We don't like posts longer than what....a minute?  We've got short fuses, no time for concentration.

 

Whatever, I received this email about Germany being the brightest and the best in solar power, way ahead of the U.S.  I can't resist posting it. Its from 2013 but statistics are usually a bit slow being delivered.

 

http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/germany-breaks-world-solar-power-generation-record-july-2013-51-twh-leaves-us-dust.html

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