The Solar Roadways project is working to pave roads with solar panels that you can drive on. Co-founder Scott Brusaw has made some major steps forward since our first visit back in 2007, so we visited him again earlier this year for an exclusive update on the project, including the first ever video recorded of the Solar Roadways prototype! For more information visit www.solarroadways.com . This Solar Roadway project will be featured in the upcoming feature film by YERT – Your Environmental Road Trip. To learn more about YERT, visit http . And you can become a fan of YERT on Facebook here: www.facebook.com
@1987RX7TII I wondered this too. I could imagine that this glass be pitted similar to a golf ball. An irregular array of dimples and what not might be able to accomplish this task. But what happens in five or ten years after millions of cars have driven over the surface? I imagine it would wear away and become slick. This kind of stuff surely needs to be produced and tested right now though.
dont know if anyone asked this but what about when the roads need to be curved?
How is this stuff going to be to run on? I can’t stand concrete because it feels like running on hammers. Asphalt is a lot more resilient.
It’ll be cheaper to put road signs and a lot of things to mark the road than this intelligent solar road panel! Besides, the solar panels will last longer in a solar energy producing plant. The pedestrian passing point can be done with traffic lights!
Glass as strong as steel! If it shatters it’s going to be messy. The question’s how thick it is! There’s no such thing as shatter proof glass! Time is the enemy of such a system! Besides, the devices in it’ll need a lot of energy! To save fuel, trucks might become larger, longer and more fuel efficient (in the USA)! By larger I mean the size of Australian trucks! Putting the LEDs in the glass layer will reduce the light that the solar panels will get and reduce the amount of energy produced!
If it’s trash that supports the solar road panels than things can go horribly wrong! Big trucks will squash the trash even further and the road will not be leveled anymore!Wires can brake and a lot of things can happen! These trucks will exceed the maximum weight limit!
If the glass or transparent panels that will be placed over the solar panels brake, will that solar panel work or will it produce other problems because of the heat it has absorbed?
There will be asphalt replacements. You can recycle the old asphalt! In fact there will be other substances based on cement or who knows what other things used to pave the roads! These substances will be cheaper than producing solar panels! If you add the cost of the special glass to the bill the costs will be too high! Let’s not forget how you transport all the electricity produced!
One final problem! Heavy traffic will reduce the quantity of electricity produced quite a lot!
Let’s not forget that there will still be sharp edges left that can puncture tires and cause all sorts of accidents!
The road does not pay for itself! The reason is that it is made from solar panels! Basically the solar panels will be more expensive than pouring asphalt! Until the panels will become good enough the asphalt might get a lot cheaper (and better) because of the technology and the knowledge obtained in time! This research and development project is a dead end!
Here’s a problem! There will be many trucks that will surpass the maximum weight limit the road was designed for! Right now there are, most likely a lot of potholes on the highways of the US and western world because of the economic crisis. Driving over a pothole in the asphalt isn’t that dangerous but when the glass will brake the tires will be punctured (the chances are a lot greater) shards of glass can fly through the windshield and kill someone or hurt them pretty bad.
@MrEnergyCzar There are enough money but there is no political will!
brilliant
Wonderful idea! When do we start? 🙂
Wow, really… What on earth are those 18 people who voted against this thinking?
“Mahhhh I like to waste stuff… Mahhhh, don’t tell me to be green buddy!”
Honestly, sometimes I just don’t get it. I guess there are some people who should never be asked their opinion…EVER.
Best idea I’ve heard in ages.
Thank you everyone – Solar Roadways finished in first place in both support (votes) and comments at the GE Ecomagination Challenge! Now let’s see if anyone will step up to the plate and do something meaningful for clean energy. Thanks again!
There’s only about two hours left to vote for Solar Roadways in the Ecomagination Challenge
Voted for your project I’m # 500
Great idea and a really good project to help get us out of the nightmare we currently find ourselves in.
Maybe some of you might be interest in my featured video, if you haven’t seen in already.
Keep up the great work.
Glass is a pretty energy intensive material (awesome material, but energy intensive) and 15% efficiency in PVs is a WAY high number to aim for given that roads mostly lay flat and so almost never have a good angle on the sun. PVs like a low incidence angle. Plus, with all the the LEDs in the roadway (and white, low efficiency ones at that) they’ll have a long way to go to pay for their energy inputs let alone their installation costs. no?
Get one at Mahaffeyiti (dot) com
why not also power the cars through the road. that way it would be able to put an poweroutput in different areas for example near by a school you would not be able to drive fast enough to hurt anyone.
But, how much would it cost? Would the initial cost and the maintenance be worth the long-term investment? The panels are perfectly flat. So, how would place them on an incline or decline. It’s a cool idea, I just don’t think it is a practicle one.
But, how much would it cost? Would the initial cost and the maintenance be worth the long-term investment? The panels are perfectly flat. So, how would place them on an incline or decline. It’s a cool idea, I just don’t think it is a practicle one.
I want this technology replacing every single road in this country now!!! Atleast, that’s what our government should be saying and backing financially.
@YERTians
they would need to make a drainage system though… if glass was slippery before, imagine when wet
maybs they can use the water as well?