(05-25-2014, 06:30 PM)Redon Wrote: but only true innovators like the Brusaw family know that the secret to solving all world problems lies in putting the solar panels under the cars instead!
Have you considered jumping out of a window?
Did you watch the video, or did you just stop ten seconds in?
Yes, great, cars will be parked over some of the panels some of the time. What about the panels that sit in the sun all bloody day? Or how about the fact that, instead of having to rip up the vast majority of the road in construction, you take out a few sections of panels, and replace it like Legos? Potholes? What potholes? You pull a broken section up, put a new one down in a manner of an hour or two, and you're good to go.
Do you think about the big picture at all, or is your attention span reduced to stupid points?
These people have literally developed a solution to our energy problems and navigation issues. What have you done? Joked about their project because you fail to realize that cars aren't permanently parked in one spot for all of eternity.
(05-25-2014, 06:30 PM)Redon Wrote: but only true innovators like the Brusaw family know that the secret to solving all world problems lies in putting the solar panels under the cars instead!
Have you considered jumping out of a window?
Did you watch the video, or did you just stop ten seconds in?
Yes, great, cars will be parked over some of the panels some of the time. What about the panels that sit in the sun all bloody day? Or how about the fact that, instead of having to rip up the vast majority of the road in construction, you take out a few sections of panels, and replace it like Legos? Potholes? What potholes? You pull a broken section up, put a new one down in a manner of an hour or two, and you're good to go.
Do you think about the big picture at all, or is your attention span reduced to stupid points?
These people have literally developed a solution to our energy problems and navigation issues. What have you done? Joked about their project because you fail to realize that cars aren't permanently parked in one spot for all of eternity.
Hilarious post, why are you getting so upset about solar panels? In general, it's a better idea to fill your posts with good arguments instead of insults.
To answer your second question, yes, I watched the 7 minute marketing flick in its entirety in one sitting. Once you realize that it's in fact not some outsider's enthusiastic recommendation, but a video funded and uploaded by the very people who are trying to sell their product, the whole circus around "SOLAR FREAKING ROADWAYS!" also gets significantly more painful to watch.
As a general rule of thumb, if an ad tells you its product is totally happening and feasible, that's no guarantee it really is. If it does so ten times per minute, it probably isn't.
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?
Unfortunately, people are apparently more willing to throw money at viraling crowdfunding campaign for an idea that sounds hip and revolutionary, than a rather mundane one that actually works. If anything, this video and the public response to it is a nice testament to how much marketing can do.
Saronsen Wrote:These guys got a million dollars from their indiegogo anyway, so it's happening.
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!
And here is the much simpler and obvious way to "solarize" a parking lot:
It was posted above but nobody bothered to look at it.
The advantages are numerous:
- It uses currently commercially available solar panels.
- Said solar panels need to be much less strong. Worst case - hail storm.
- You don't have to clean them as often as they don't have cars driving over them.
- They provide shadow and keep cars cool.
It seems like many people here don't really understand how Streets/Parkinglots and generally roads are made.
Right now you use asphalt concrete which is a mixture out of concrete and bitumen (which is made out of crude oil).
Now back in the 60s everything was built with concret which is very durable but takes quite a long time to replace when they outlived their use (which is about 40 years).
Now asphalt concrete is very nice since it is very easy and fast to get built, all you need to do is heat the compound up to about roughly 100 degrees Celcius and then spread the layer evenly on the road. ( you normaly do two layers the first one which is the foundation layer (roughly 8-12cm and the second one which is around 2-5cm and is used for spreading the force even more)
:: Of course before you do an Asphalt concrete layering or concrete layering you need to make the foundation which is normaly done with a mixture of gravel etc. so that you have a good case that can actually take the force and load of the cars/anything else driving on the road above. ::
Whereas pure concret needs at least 28 days until it actually reaches its final density, alas you need to wait a month until you can use the road.
Now, as I said Asphalt is a mixture out of bitumen and concret 5% bitumen as a binder and the other 95% being concret (so stone/sand/gravel) now in order to pave the road you need to warm it up to about 100 Degrees celcius, after that you let the whole thing cool and bam you can already drive on the road.
Now the problem with this that unlike pure Concret roads the Asphalt concret doesn't last as long as the concret one ( needs to be replaced all 20 years or so if you have a very high density street) another problem with it is that if you have many cars driving on it the asphalt concret moves and bends under the load of the cars, it can either be because you have tons of cars driving on said road a day or many heavy transports like cars/trucks etc.
Or it can simply be a very hot day and have a few heavy cars on the road.
Now if you would wanto make streets with solar pannels the problem that you get is that those solar pannels will be taking up the brunt of the force that is applied from cars etc.
And if they can't transfer that force evenly into the case beneath it'll lead to holes and bumps very fast.
The next problem is that the asphalt concret and concret itself doesn't stay static because it is either applied through heat or done with a chemical process involving water, so you'll always get movement within the road itself.
So those Solar pannels would have to be using quite some groundbreaking technologie.
And then the next problem comes when the street needs to be renovate since you always need to replace the whole upper layer of Asphalt concret or take out the whole concret plate that is built in you'd be wasting tons of silicon everytime you replace the street.
Right now recycling of Asphalt concret or concret is very easy and very efficient, this would complicate the matter extremly.
That's it for me right now, if you're asking from where I know this, I'm working as a technical drawer on renovating roads. (well apprenticeship to be correct)
If you wanto find out more about this stuff you should just look on Wikipedia they have a good explanation on how this stuff works.
“This font is good people said, this font is awesome others said, I say it works well enough to waste 2 seconds of your life reading this.”
(05-25-2014, 10:18 PM)Acolyte Wrote: I'll just leave this here, since some people that think they're hilarious seem to have forgotten what parking lots look like.
Either way, they would generate as much energy as they would lose from cars overshadowing them; and that's if they're jam-packed.
So you proved that there are spots in a parking lot that no cars park on. Great! I guess this means "Solar Freaking Roadways" are now a feasible thing, cheaper and more advantageous than conventional solar panels, and all the technical difficulties these sour critics come up with all the time aren't even a real concern.
Why not place normal solar panels on that roof instead, where you don't have to worry about wear from cars driving over them? Too boring?
(05-25-2014, 10:18 PM)Acolyte Wrote: The world would be a better place if there weren't so many cynics.
And I think the world would be a better place if there weren't as many lies, marketing tricks and crowd-funding scams. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen anytime soon. Cynics at least have the decency to tell you how it is.
(05-25-2014, 11:35 PM)Acolyte Wrote: I can't help you have a happier outlook on life. You seem pretty upset for being in a discussion with strangers on the internet.
Carry on then, I won't have any part in a conversation with somebody so negative. Good day, thread.
I'm not sure where you get the idea any of this is making me mad. I'm a bitter person because I don't buy into scams? Ok.
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