Here in broken California, we can’t hardly get Cal-Trans to complete regular asphalt roadways on time or on budget. While this is a nice idea, and in a perfect world it might be a perfect solution, I don’t think it will be adopted quickly by cash-strapped state governments. OTOH, maybe Federal subsidies from carbon taxes imposed by the EPA?
The design features embedded LED lights for markers. But, it’s a trouble magnet for some kids to hack the system like has been done with construction signs. This passage from the article really told me though that he doesn’t have a clue:
Brusaw says that the solar road would cost about $4.4M per mile, but those costs are offset by not needing to build coal plants, install utility poles, and build relay stations. “The taxpayers are already paying for all of these.
Umm, there’s coal power plants being built in the USA at taxpayer expense?
Solar-Powered Glass Road Could Melt Snow Automatically
By John Brandon, Fox News
It’s being called snowmageddon – and for good reason. Snow and ice are wreaking havoc all across the United States with record wind chills and more precipitation than Siberia on a bad day. If your commute is taking three times as long as it usually does, go ahead and blame the archaic highway system.
That’s right. In the 1950s, the idea of paving America with black asphalt seemed like a good idea. Now, 60 years later, we’re still using it — and still sliding all over the road.
But what if the road itself could change?
That’s the dream for Scott Brusaw, who has a novel idea for dealing with snowy roads: replace them with a glass surface embedded with solar cells that generate power from the sun and store it in batteries for use at night. In his view, such a proliferation of solar cells could also help solve our ongoing dependence on fossil fuels, because they could feed excess electric power into the grid. He has even developed illuminated lane markings that change according to current road conditions.
His company, Solar Roadways is waiting for approval on a new $750,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) that will help him build a large-scale prototype to test new materials and electronics, and hopefully prove that his invention works.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Paul in Sweden says: “Remove all universities, movie studios, theaters, concert halls & the United Nations buildings from the electric grids, force them to run on wind/solar/wave power and I guarantee you Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming Cooling(CAGWC) will cease to exist.”
This is a GREAT idea!!!! I think we should start with Al Gore’s house. We either need a chain saw for the power poles, or a trencher for buried lines. We could get him off the grid in minutes!
I am going to correct myself on one thing:
I thought I saw in the article or the video that the road sections would be able to be heated. I don’t see that in it anywhere.
Without heating, I don’t agree with this at all. Glass with snow or ice on it? And not enough black to retain heat? And converting the energy into electricity means that energy is not available for heating the road. That is not smart.
Also, anyone who’s ever temperature shocked a glass and seen it crack knows that glass has a pretty sizable thermal expansion coefficient (except for quartz glass which has a 0.00 coefficient), so the glass will continually be expanding and contracting – and this will in time crack the glass. Especially when complicated by a live load that dynamically presses down for a fraction of a second.
If salt is necessary – and evidently it will be, as it is drawn up at present – this will be a disaster. And, yes, snow plows will devastate it.
It must have heater coils buried inside it, with electricity normally being sent out from the solar cells, but also able to bring electricity in from the grid to heat the cold and snowy sections. Salt MUST be removed from the equation. And severe cold, too. (Look at that windmill the other day…) I’d have about a 40°F thermostat in each section. I’d also sense when there is an electrical problem in any solar cell or heater. Done in sufficient quantities the cost should be minimized.
In addition, these glass sections cannot just SIT on top of their foundations. When a vehicle accelerates or decelerates it is the friction between the tires and the road surface that allows the thrust to be transmitted. But it also means that the roadway has to react to the applied thrust. As the car accelerates, the glass road has to be anchored well enough and be strong enough in the X-direction to react to the acceleration. Otherwise, the road gets pushed back and the car doesn’t go anywhere. It’s kind of like trying to start walking on a small piece of carpet on a waxed floor, to some degree. The opposite happens when braking occurs. The road section has to withstand up to an 80,000 lb load plus vehicle and trailer weight in a panic stop situation. It has to be attached firmly to both the tires and the foundation. If either attachment gives way, it ain’t good.
I predict this will be the achilles heel and the death of this.
There are just a lot of things that can go wrong. But good engineering can solve all of these. But keep the scientists out of it.
Reminds me of the bright idea to cover stadiums, warehouses, large stables, and barns with ripstop nylon fabric. Since snow would be a thing of the past, it sounded like a good idea at the time.
I have a better idea. Seeing as how we’re all going to be out on the roads anyway regardless of the weather, the government could give us each a 4 x4 truck with a snow blade on the front. They could eliminate all the graders and such on the highways and we’d even clear our neighborhood streets too. And if they gave a few of us quads with blades, we could do the sidewalks too! Far more cost effective.
Proven once again:
The two commonest elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. ~Harlan Ellison
Actually this idea has merit if you limit it to regions where it is appropriate. You can’t expect one idea to be practical all the way to the north pole. If you limit it to those zones where frost and snow are light and rare it ought to work pretty well.
Of course if global warming is real you’ll have to keep moving the road north.
And if global cooling is real you’ll have to keep moving the road south.
No, wait, that’s not how it works. The snow showing up further south is because of global warming I just heard. So if it gets warmer you’ll have to move the road north to where there is less snow. No, wait, that’s still not how it works. If we have global warming, there is no snow that anyone can remember…so global warming affects short term memory. No wait, that’s not it either. Got it. If global warming is real it will be catastrophic which gives us two options.
1. We do something about it really fast like ban all fossil fuel use. No need for roads. Problem solved.
2. We do nothing about in which case we all die. No need for roads. Problem solved.
You know what else? If the debate ever ends I will be very sad. The endless stream of goofball crackpot are you really trying to pull that one over on me stupidity to make fun of will be hard to replace.
How about thermocouples imbedded in the pavement. Electricity out in the summer and in the winter heated roads with electricity in.
I don’t doubt that this innovation will end up on some dust heap, consigned to be a “nice try, but no cigar”
At first I thought that this guy was dumber then a wooden fence post, but then I discovered that he had conned one government agency out of $100,000 and now he is up for a further $700,000 plus GE gave him $50,000 for coming up with this scam.
Man! I am the dumb one. 🙁 pg
@Steve Garcia
90% of what left was due to fleeing government red tape and union shortsightedness, not $3/day labor. Also, where they couldn’t remain competitive, CEO’s would have been derelict not to maximize value for the shareholders.
@richardM
No “nice try” involved here. This is a scheme to suck taxpayer $$$ into someone’s pocket.
RE: Brusaw says that the solar road would cost about $4.4M per mile
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to build a roof over the road to keep the snow off?
Maybe we should just emit more co2 so its warmer at night and during winter months and so snow is a thing of the past, then we wouldn’t need such roads – oh hang on – now co2 causes cold temperatures and snow – doh!
Feet2theFire says:
February 6, 2011 at 3:17 pm
As to snow chains, if you paid attention, they would heat the roads. That obviously is meant to keep snow from staying frozen or ice from forming. Ergo, no need for salt or chains.
That’s assuming that it can melt the snow fast enough. Let’s assume that the panels are magically 100% effective. A low winter sun behind clouds (it’s cloudy when it snows) will perhaps give 10 W/m² for 1/3 of the day. If the rate of snow is 3 mm/h (water equivalent), or about 3 cm snow per hour and the temperature is -10 C, how much energy is needed to melt this? I think you need much more than 3 W/m² for that.
Bob Diaz says:
February 6, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to build a roof over the road to keep the snow off?>>
Excellent! Now we’re thinking! Should we make it a really strong roof so that when the oceans rise and swamp the road we can just drive on the roof?
Hmmmm…. Do you suppose they would pay out some research grants on building roads that are constructed entirely of a downward grade? Think how much fuel that would save! Seems plausible….
Wouldn’t this make a lot more sense for taxiways and runways?
Uhm, wouldn’t the road need to be cleared of snow first in order to collect the sunlight to, uhm, clear it of snow?
Aww… c’mon! Where are they going to dump all the WATER from the melted snow
before it freezes?
Great idea, don’t knock it, I have applied for a $10,000.000 grant to build antigravitational cars and trucks, no surface contact no wear.
Last time I applied the tyre lobby was against it.
Hey … I’ve got an idea. Why don’t … pay people to remove the snow!
If the sun is not strong enough to melt the ice directly after being absorbed by black asphalt, it definitely won’t be able to do it after going through a PV set and batteries with associated losses. This is pure boondoggle.
Plus in most areas with snow-cover there simply isn’t much sun in winter. After all that is why there is a winter you know.
Enthalpy of fusion?
What happens at night????????
Jean Parisot says:
February 6, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Wouldn’t this make a lot more sense for taxiways and runways?
The last runway project I worked on was a meter thick of highly reinforced concrete. A 747 is a couple hundred thousand pounds coming in at 200 mph. That had better be some really, really special glass.
Kevin M said
Remove all universities, movie studios, theaters, concert halls & the United Nations buildings from the electric grids, force them to run on wind/solar/wave power and I guarantee you Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming Cooling(CAGWC) will cease to exist.
==========
simply Brilliant suggestion and I bet hes got THE best answer:-) Love it.