SOLAR FREAKIN ROADWAYS!!!!!!

[Kazinsal]

Implementing this is a ridiculous effort. Consider how many cities near you still have hundreds of roads that are old, bumpy, and broken, and can't be replaced because of the hell that would be caused by shutting them down for a few days each to resurface.

Now replace "a few days" with "a few months" and "resurface" with "install a massive grid of solar panels and the infrastructure required to hook them into the energy grid".

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Retired, permanently.

[Exploration]

Let's all go back to a hamster on a wheel driving a little generator with a rubber band around it.
And even if it breaks. Fry up the hamster for lunch.

At least we all know it works to an extent and about as eco - simplistic as it gets.

Beats the expensive roadways.

[lIceColon]

Awesome! A little more, and they'll have enough to afford replacing half a mile of the 4 million miles in the US road network with solar freaking roadways!
Plus, I'm sure replacing all road construction workers with certified electricians is going to be cheap. After all, it works just like Legos!

I'm sure some indian or chinese factory could make this stuff at at least 1/5 price. so much of the cost can be cut down if you remove other aspects of social responsibility. ofc, if you rely on great murican industry and great murican workers who don't work for cheap, you're gonna have a helluva time fitting this stuff into your budget.

[Mickk]

I like it.

It's a great idea, the only problem I can see is implementing it.

As was mentioned in an earlier post, there are certain areas that would come to a total standstill while they were installing it.

As for Space Elevators, we currently have the technology to make one of those right now..... almost.

We can make something called a 'carbon nano-tube' which is hugely strong, easily strong enough to do the job, but last I heard we aren't able to make them long enough to incorporate into a cable/fiber whatever.

However, my information on this is a little out of date, so I could be wrong.

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Mickk: One orginal, 4 clones. Telp..teleh....mind comu...comi..come...talking ability.
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[tothebonezone]

The problem if implementing them isn't as terrible as you think, but it has problems yes.

They wouldn't be paying out of pocket to replace the road with their solar panels. Someone would have to purchase them. Private home owners replacing their driveways and sidewalks with them, or small business owners having a parking lot replaced. Once they've proven their effectiveness small-scale, they reach out to city governments. But it needs an investment from smaller groups.

Nothing in this world goes anywhere without an investment. The million dollars they received through IGG wasn't for them to just start tearing up roads, it's for them to perfect the technology, advertise it, and get people to -buy- from them. Of course they won't be able to replace thousands of miles of roads with it, they'd be contracted and paid by local government to do that. So yeah, it won't go anywhere without more outside interest.

Or I have no idea what I'm talking about.




Also real funny joke, changing my signature. You really got me.

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[SMGSterlin]

That's because it's the FUUUUTURE, it's like something out of an old sci-fi movie that the people here once watched and they go "OMG, IT'S JUST LIKE THAT MOVIE, WE'RE MOVING TO THE FUUUUUTURE, SOLAR PANELS ARE BOSS, LETS DO IT".


Nevermind more logical solutions to the problem, we have to do the illogical thing for the sake of becoming more like the FUUUUUTURE.

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[Thyrzul]

You know what else sits in the sun all day, other than parking lot solar panels that no car is currently parked on? Completely conventional solar panels placed on the roof of a building! They would have the added benefits of not needing to support the weight of a truck, either. How many roofs in the United States are currently equipped with solar panels? What makes you think that replacing any amount of road area is ever going to be cheaper or easier to maintain than doing the same on a roof that nobody needs?

And that's the problem here. You only see the solar panel under the cars here, but fail to notice the brand new concept of road contruction. There are two ideas bound together in this project, one of them is the solar panel thing, the other is the idea of roads and highways being made of easily replacable parts. That they managed to bring the two ideas together is one thing, but if you criticise the idea, criticise the whole then, and don't ignore half of it. (In my interpretation the main idea is the modular road construction, and they just made use of transparent plastic/glass/whatever they used there, and put solar panels into these blocks.)

And dismissing an idea simply because the advertisers overacted their role in their advertisement is at least as much wrong as accepting what they say without questions.

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[Jansen]

Whats the use of those if you cant store the energy for when you need it? Because thats what we definitely cant do at this moment.

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[Strichev]

You can pump large quantities of water to a hilltop lake. Inefficient, but under certain circumstances economically sensible.

When fusion kicks off (ITER is looking pretty good right now) this entire idea will look silly.

[lIceColon]

nukes ftw 8|