"Each interlocking hexagonal segment is covered with toughened and textured glass that’s capable of withstanding 250,000 pounds. Beneath that, you’ve got a solar panel, a series of LED lights and a heating element that’ll keep the ice and snow off the hardware in winter. The lights are used to replace conventional traffic lights, offering constantly updating safety warnings and guide lines that can adapt to traffic conditions on the fly.
The system would require a trench running down one side, which would hold the power cables, but could also be used as the backbone for a potential new high-speed data network. As each panel would also be connected, it’d instantly report a fault back to a maintenance engineer, and also track its location, should someone decide to steal one for their own nefarious uses."
Seems legit to me, just very expensive to implement. But we could save all that $$$ used to protect our energy interests in the rest of the world to make us independent of that.
Combining those roads, with induction charging Tesla like cars, and maybe also coat those cars with solar cells. It probably wont happen, but I love the idea.
[quote]espenl wrote:
Combining those roads, with induction charging Tesla like cars, and maybe also coat those cars with solar cells. It probably wont happen, but I love the idea.[/quote]
If there’s a way to make money, it’ll happen. Oil will fight it tooth and nail though (unless they R&D the tech).
[quote]SexMachine wrote:
Solar power is a bad joke. It’s prohibitively expensive and could never possibly meet the energy requirements of an industrialised nation.[/quote]
I understand J.P. Morgan felt the same way about the light bulb.
[quote]SexMachine wrote:
Solar power is a bad joke. It’s prohibitively expensive and could never possibly meet the energy requirements of an industrialised nation.[/quote]
Crude oil is just solar energy that was captured by plants during the carboniferous era and then conveniently stuck underground for us to pull it out.
All power on this planet is ultimately solar power.
Huge swaths of this planet have tons of sunshine and almost nobody living there. We’re just a few engineering innovations away from covering the Sahara desert in solar panels.
So while your statement may be true today, and will probably always be true for places like Seattle, where it is frequently cloudy, I do not think it will not remain a true statement for long.
You could use this grid system in a parking lot, where your car is charging while parked. This seems more practical since your car spends more time parked than driving (unless you are one commuting mother fucker).
I am all about heated roads in WY. With 220 sunny days/yr on average around here it could probably generate enough electricity to sell back to the power company.
[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
Sounds cool to me. Would be even better if energy could somehow be converted to fuel cars while driving.
And/or if the energy burned during travel could be converted into power for the local city or town. That’d be cool. [/quote]
There is already technology that would allow a road to charge an electric car while driving on it. I don’t know all the details, but it is already available.
[quote]SexMachine wrote:
Solar power is a bad joke. It’s prohibitively expensive and could never possibly meet the energy requirements of an industrialised nation.[/quote]
I understand J.P. Morgan felt the same way about the light bulb. [/quote]
Well I guess if solar power is viable it shouldn’t need any government subsidies then.
[quote]
I understand J.P. Morgan felt the same way about the light bulb.[/quote]
And he was right about it.
It IS prohibitively expensive.
That’s why we don’t actually pay for our modern lifestyle. We borrow it from our great grand children.
About solar power : it relies on photovoltaic devices that use rare earths and metals.
Even if the energy is “renewable”, the industrial process is definitely not sustainable.
