[ROCKMAN]

sub - So just to carry the idea further you would construct a canopy that would support many tons of accumulated snow? Maybe use some of that "free energy" to melt the snow. But if the snow is covering that panels then no power. OK...so a huge storage system with a secondary feed back to the panels to melt the snow. And, of course, a drainage system to keep the water off the roadway to avoid the hydroplaning you mentioned.

I'm actually starting to enjoy fleshing this plan out. Since we're building the canopy why not run an electric connection along the underside just like the street cars in New Orleans use and then electric vehicles could connect up and run that way. And with all that free energy maybe they could devise a way to deliver $5 cups of Starbucks to you while drilling.

Any other add-ons I've missed?

[Subjectivist]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ROCKMAN', 's')ub - So just to carry the idea further you would construct a canopy that would support many tons of accumulated snow? Maybe use some of that "free energy" to melt the snow. But if the snow is covering that panels then no power. OK...so a huge storage system with a secondary feed back to the panels to melt the snow. And, of course, a drainage system to keep the water off the roadway to avoid the hydroplaning you mentioned.

I'm actually starting to enjoy fleshing this plan out. Since we're building the canopy why not run an electric connection along the underside just like the street cars in New Orleans use and then electric vehicles could connect up and run that way. And with all that free energy maybe they could devise a way to deliver $5 cups of Starbucks to you while drilling.

Any other add-ons I've missed?

[ROCKMAN]

sub - Exactly. When you don't have to worry about cost nothing is impossible.

[Timo]

Here's my idea. Similar concept, but alternate technology. Here in my state, we have about 400 miles of toll road highways, all seperated each direction of travel by a 4' concrete barrier. That's just my state. Nationwide, i suspect there a many, many more miles of highway built in this fashion. When a car or truck drives by at 80 miles an hour, it generates a a strong wind gust. Multiply that gust of wind by 80,000 trips each direction every day, and you have a fairly constant source of wind power. My idea is to place a vertical axis wind turbine every 100 feet along that concrete barrier, with the electrical line running underneath that same barrier, being uploaded to the grid at every section line bridge. VAWTs aren't as efficient as HAWTs, but they are a lot cheaper, and MUCH easier to maintain. The heights are also much more variable, so you wouldn't need 300' towers being built down the middle of the road. A VAWT would only need to be 30' to 40' in height to capture the wind generated by passing cars and trucks. What VAWTs lack in effieciency, they would make for in volume.

Any takers? Crowdfunding this idea might make me a few bucks.

[Tanada]

Actually it occurred to me a long time ago that you could just put a solid tunnel shell around each side of the expressway totally enclosing the environment, with solar cells on top. Then you use the solar power to run giant fans blowing air into the tunnels in the same direction as the traffic flow. On a sunny summer day you give ever truck, semi and car in the tunnel a 60 mph tail wind, which grossly reduces their wind resistance and increases their fuel efficiency about double while provide fresh clean air in the tunnel and preventing suffocation. Every mile or so their would be a safety exit and open spot so on cloudy days and at night air can still get in and out. Ta-Da I just more than doubled vehicle fuel efficiency while keeping the same fleet of cars, trucks and semi-tractors already built and in use. Beat that ROFL!

[Graeme]

Solar-powered roads could refuel cars as they drive

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') NETWORK of solar-powered roads made of durable textured glass could recharge electric vehicles while they're on the move, according to the founders of Solar Roadways.

Scott Brusaw, an electrical engineer, and his wife Julie have already built a working prototype outside their electronics lab. Now they're hoping to put the idea into production using money raised through Indiegogo, a crowd-funding website.

Where did the idea come from?
The pair set up the company after working on the idea of embedding solar-powered lights and heating elements into the road surface to improve safety at night or in icy conditions.

Having developed suitably rugged solar cells, they looked into how they might use them to generating electricity for the national grid – or to power the cars running over them.



When will production start?
Production will begin once the project reaches its funding goal of $1m, for which the company has set a target date of May 31. The campaign has so far raised $100,000.

Solar road surfaces are likely to make their first appearances in car parks and driveways before being rolled out onto the road network.

[Graeme]

Department Of Transportation Funds Solar Roadways Project

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')The Department of Energy may be getting a lot of press these days for its big-dollar loans to EV automakers, but the Department of Transportation is doing its own small part to brighten the future, too. The DOT recently awarded Solar Roadways (warning: crappy website ahead) a $100,000 contract to prototype its proposed -- wait for it -- solar roadway. Upside: LEDs embedded in the pavement create dividing lines and easily changeable signage, and solar cells generate power for the grid. Also: all those hours you spent playing Night Driver might finally pay off.

[Newfie]

Grahame,

Two very different projects.

But since we have cast this thread adrift, here is one sorta roadway related, about a real project in NJ.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/scien ... d=all&_r=0

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')RADELL, N.J. — Nancy and Eric Olsen could not pinpoint exactly when it happened or how. All they knew was one moment they had a pastoral view of a soccer field and the woods from their 1920s colonial-style house; the next all they could see were three solar panels.

“I hate them,” Mr. Olsen, 40, said of the row of panels attached to electrical poles across the street. “It’s just an eyesore.”

Around the corner lives Tom Trobiano, 61, a liquor salesman, now adapting to the lone solar panel hanging over his driveway. “When it’s up close,” he said, “the panel takes on a life of its own.”

[Subjectivist]

NIMBYism at its finest.

[Newfie]

Can you imagine the outrage if they destroyed an entire Walmart parking lot?

Hey, maybe there is some good here after all!

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Graeme', '[')b]That Amazing 'Solar Roadways' Project Has a Working Prototype

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')They now have a working prototype featuring hexagonal panels that cover a 12-by-36-foot parking lot.

[Graeme]

Solar Freakin' Roadways Electrify Clean Energy Generation (Video)

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')s the once far-fetched idea of "solar roadways" gains a huge convoy of supporters--from the US Department of Transportation to Google to the Times of India to even Fox News -- a new video aimed at the millennial generation is set to go viral again, according to clean energy advocates.

This just might be the most inspiring, riveting and definitive roadmap for clean energy independence -- Solar Freakin' Roadways:

[Newfie]

There is NO information in that story. None.

[Graeme]

Google supports this project. More here.

[Graeme]

With 6 days to go, it seems that the target of $1 million has been reached!!

Backers pledge more than $1M for solar roads

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') company in the United States has raised more than $1 million to start making roads entirely out of solar panels.

They say the panels could produce three times the electricity the US needs, and a New Zealand scientist says there's potential for the technology here too.

It may seem like science fiction, but the Solar Roadways project wants to make energy-generating roads a reality.

"We can't keep building asphalt roads, doing the same thing we've been doing since Eisenhower opened the federal highway system in the 1950s – it's time to move on," says Solar Roadways co-founder Scott Brusaw.

[Tanada]

Nice little puff video about the technology is now going around Facebook. Lots of promises, very few actual facts about time/cost/labor/maintenance/energy output.

http://youtu.be/qlTA3rnpgzU