Dr. Roy Spencer and I have been watching this project with amusement combined with incredulity. Somehow, this mom and pop operation have raised over $1.9 million on Indiegogo from gullible people who don’t have the skillset or decide to ignore basic physics, economics, and common sense in favor of future pipe dreams of green energy. This video that follows shows why their claim doesn’t make any sense, none at all. The best part? The impetus was for this idea was global warming. Here is what they say about the birth of “solar roadways”:
Years ago, when the phrase “Global Warming” began gaining popularity, we started batting around the idea of replacing asphalt and concrete surfaces with solar panels that could be driven upon. We thought of the “black box” on airplanes: We didn’t know what material that black box was made of, but it seemed to be able to protect sensitive electronics from the worst of airline crashes.
Suppose we made a section of road out of this material and housed solar cells to collect energy, which could pay for the cost of the panel, thereby creating a road that would pay for itself over time. What if we added LEDs to “paint” the road lines from beneath, lighting up the road for safer night time driving? What if we added a heating element in the surface (like the defrosting wire in the rear window of our cars) to prevent snow/ice accumulation in northern climates? The ideas and possibilities just continued to roll in and the Solar Roadway project was born.
Source: http://www.solarroadways.com/intro.shtml
Got that? Airplane black boxes to road surfaces logic, check. LED’s to guide cars down the road at night with optional Windex tankers ahead of you, check. Heating elements to melt snow and ice, but no cognizant idea of just how much power it takes to melt snow and ice versus the amount of power a dirty scuffed up solar cell will produce, check.
The most ridiculous parts of this idea don’t just include the unsuitability of solar tiles as a road surface (high friction surfaces and transparent optical surfaces are total opposites) and the ginormous production and maintenance costs involved, but also include the ill-considered support infrastructure requirements, the poor visibility of LED road lighting itself, and the short lifespan of materials involved.
All in all, it’s a colossal green tech train wreck, but these clowns may be laughing all the way to the bank, or they may be shysters, either way, there’s a sucker born every minute.
From the YouTube video description:
Well it basically proposes the union of 3 or 4 technologies. LED lights, solar panels, and glass roads.
Glass really isn’t a feasible material to make roads out of.
1) its too expensive. Just coating the US road system with roads would cost many times the federal budget.
2) Its too soft. Even with a textured surface for traction, it will wear away too quickly. Dirt on roads is basically small rocks, which are generally much harder than glass. Imagine taking a handful of dirt and rubbing it a window. Now imagine doing that with the wheels of a 20 ton tractor/trailer.
3) I have doubts about the physical properties of the glass to take the load and mechanical heat stress required of a road making material.
Solar panels under the road is a bad idea from the start. If they are under the roads, they are hard to maintain. They will have reduced light from parked cars etc. They are fragile. Not really congenial to the conditions you are likely to get on a road. In many ways building a shed over the road, or just having solar panels by the side of the road is a far better idea. However the power transport really isnt practical. One of the most efficient ways to transport electricity around is as high voltage AC. However to build those lines would probably double the cost of any construction. To bury the cables is even more expensive.
LEDs for variable road marking have been partially implemented. They are usually only cost effective in dynamic traffic management systems. For most roads its utterly pointless as the road markings almost never need to be altered. These LED are usually not easy to see (especially in full daylight when the solar panels are meant to be generating power).
However solar powered roadways has generated well over a million dollars for Julie and Scott Brusaw (a therapist and an engineer).
I’m still on the fence as to if they are just delusional dreamers or (now millionaire) con artists. A lot of this looks like just direct ‘what if’ daydreaming, but then you get the part of the promotional video where they are shoveling ground up coloured glass into a wheelbarrow, while narrating that they use as many recycled materials as possible in this project. It’s very difficult to not see that as a direct lie. They must know full well that they did not use any of that material in the construction of their glass tiles.
Watch the video:
And here is the original video pitch that earned these green dreamers 1.9 million dollars for an idea that was dead out of the gate.
It is a stupid idea – for all the reasons given above. One further objection is that roads are generally not flat (as depicted in the proposal) – there is usually some sort of camber. That alone would reduce the efficiency – but probably not as much as dirt and general wear.
This post is not the first post to highlight the flaws in the program. Seriously though take all of the neat self heating, programable LED features out of it and it becomes durable solar panels that could take up no more ground than the roads in the us. Still there are sure some bugs that will need to be worked out, and it is a mom and pop shop doing this. But imagine these problems in the hands of a bigger organization with a think tank of engineers. It blows my mind to see people bagging on this when they pay billions of dollars to major oil companies for our current energy, when the answer could be right here in its infancy. When does something worthwhile come out flawless on the first try? it may not be the answer today but it is a promising start to what we desperately need. So unless you have a better idea, I see the only options as support something like this, or just keep paying the major oil companies to dig us a deeper hole of problems.
Thank you, the comment to end all comments. well said!!
I’m extremely pro solar but this is about the dumbest idea I’ve heard. I’m amazed at how many have been conned by rank amateurs that are either delusional at best or scamming retirement funds from well-meaning but scientifically ignorant people.
If this idea had any actual merit or viability, there would be companies in the private industry happily offering money to support it if they thought it had a chance in hell of succeeding.
The people who support this are almost a cult of sorts, no amount of logic or scientific reasoning will sway them, these roads will be built, thus it was said, thus it shall be done.
“Did the writer of this article or any of the posters care to look at the website’s FAQs? They address all of the issues mentioned here.”
If I had a dollar every time one of these cultists posted this, I’d have enough for a luxury European vacation by now. You only think that the FAQ answers everything because your last science class was back in your sophomore year of college and you were way too stoned or drunk to notice anyways.
The FAQ is written to impress scientifically illiterate people, some of the stuff in there is written like it is made for a standup comedy.
Roger Pallazzo +1
“. If it is practical to put solar PV on your house, then cells with similar efficiency placed in your yard, roof, driveway or anywhere else will perform exactly as well. Period.”
MarkP, This is the most ridiculous thing you posted. Panels are installed at an angle in the U.S., never laying flat. To claim that panels installed under a thick layer of glass, laying flat would perform the same as a standard rooftop installation is beyond ignorant.
@arthur4563 “My favorite stupidity was their idea of covering a parking lot with the solar tiles. You know, a parking lot, where lots of cars shade most of the pavement. Now THAT is a really dumb idea.”
Because, you know, every square inch of a parking lot is covered by cars at all times. There are no places to drive them to find a space, and every space is ALWAYS filled.
I think they are astep inthe right direction . coal burning power plants are killimg the planet slowly similar to smoking tobaco most morons don’t try to quite untlll it’s to late. Just because big oil companies don’t like them doesn’t mean fack all
REPLY: Yes you should send all your money to this project right now – Let us know how it works out for you – Anthony
Yes, only half of the panels are covered in a full parking lot. When people put solar panels on their houses they paint half of them black, or just do bother to connect them to the wiring.
Why would you waste the money on panels when you know they will produce little if any power?
This is also the case of many areas of roads and sidewalks. I guess we should put these panels in underground parking garages too.