Solar highways?

[yurbud]

Run time: 04:38 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnj8Y5PbFTI   Posted on YouTube: August 07, 2010 By YouTube Member: AVEHICLE707 Views on YouTube: 310   Posted on DU: August 09, 2010 By DU Member: yurbud Views on DU: 1151

 
Think about it: the property would be free, and it would be connected to your driveway--the road would be the grid as well as the generator.

There's probably some problem with this, but it's worth considering.

[stlsaxman]

1. BRILLIANT! Absolutely, stunningly brilliant!

[jtuck004]

2. We are in a global world, and the only way forward is to move

ourselves into the jobs and ideas that will be needed for the 21st century. This has all the makings of one of those r&d projects that could have those qualitites.

This, combined with electronically controlled cars, could well be where we head in the future.

thank you for this.

[yurbud]

3. just found it on reddit

[DeSwiss]

4. Whoops! K&R

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x491976

:)

[Grassy Knoll]

5. WOW , this would be great, I like this a lot.

But will the Pubes agree ?

[Quixote1818]

6. Not convinced yet. First of all it would need to be cleaned every day

as tires would leave black streaks all over the glass and sunlight would have a hard time getting through the rubber left from tires if left uncleaned. I also don't understand how they can make it to where a tire gets traction if the glass gets wet? And what if large rocks tumble down a hill onto the glass or someone decides to take a sludge hammer to it? I know it can be made hard but even the hardest glass can shatter just as steel can break, chip and dent.

[redixdoragon]

8. Thus the need for research and development

A form of glass polymer or other transparent surface that gives both enough grip and allows enough sunlight through would be required, though yes cleaning would be another issue. However if the cars that utilize such roads require less fluids because there are less moving mechanical parts, required oils and such, such cleaning may not be too difficult.

However if cleaning of these roads was required far more often that is needed for current roads then this would just be as unsustainable as the asphalt (sp). We haven't the water to spare for such an endeavor.

[JJ]

9. Why water? Just sweep it

Broom trucks, much like todays snow plows, to keep the roads clear (no pun intended) rain would do the rest. They would be high maintenance, sections would need to be replaced frequently, but they would serve numerous functions and pay for themselves in several ways and provide much needed jobs.
Looks like win, win, win all the way around. no more high tension wires stung along the roads, means fewer trees cut down, as well as improving safety and aesthetics. The more I think about it, the more pluses I see to that idea.

[Quixote1818]

11. I have always wanted the ability for cars to hook into railing or something

of that nature on highways. Something where your car would hook up to the road electronically and it would control your speed and because it was in a metal railing (kind of like race car set) the car would stay in the center of the lane. This would allow for zero accidents unless the system malfunctioned and maybe for the driver to not have to worry about steering or breaking while on these highways. They could even take a nap or watch TV until they got to the off ramp they needed to take.

[Quixote1818]

12. Might need buffer trucks. Would also like the roads to heat up so snow melts off

roads that could heat up above freezing would be awesome and save so many lives and money spent to clear the snow off.

[dem mba]

17. I'm skeptical but intrigued

tires, dirt, water, mud, dust, roadkill, etc etc would certainly mar the roads, but when you're talking the scale of our Interstate Highway system or something, I don't think it would be too difficult to fix problem areas (a la how we fix potholes now). If the road is electronic it could be "smart" enough to know which panels are not functioning properly.

Areas of concern would be having enough trained engineers in all areas of the country to maintain these high tech pieces of road. I'm from Columbus, Ohio and we had big problems with lights not working on one city street. These were light bulbs folks, and it took them about 3-5 years to fix.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/05/23/ARCHY.ART_ART_05-23-07_B1_H36Q1O0.html

So I'll take a wait and see approach with this before I get too excited.

[Quixote1818]

18. Hopefully something cool can come from this

Interesting ideas with some tough things to work around and iron out. Hopefully they can make it work. Maybe a lot of buildings could be made with solar walls and roofs? Maybe sidewalks?

[iamthebandfanman]

7. repost ,

but still love that people are coming up with new ideas

[Enthusiast]

10. But where would this leave nuclear?

:sarcasm: :hi:

[PHIMG]

13. Of course road tech R&D has been supressed.

Innovations that would decrease demand for oil and oil byproducts have been actively suppressed by a wide variety of methods - bribing, patent capture, defunding research at the state and federal level, intimidation, market pricing schemes, coups, assassination, etc.

We live in a society where an oil company can destroy a huge body of water and an entire eco system and barely get punished. That's a very visible crime that goes unpunished. What of the unscene crimes?

They gatekeepers in the media call this"conspiracy theory", look the other way, and cash the checks.

If you owned a piece of a TEN BILLION a year monopoly what would you do to protect it?

A rational society would declare the fossil fuel monopoly on energy as a clear and present danger and move to nationalize them in order to use revenues to build out the alternatives *massive scale centralized and decentralized solar, and a modern energy superhighway* to link it all together....then wind down operations of the old fossil fuel monopolies.

If it requires fuel or creates waste...it's not modern power.

Efficiency, Solar, Wind, *maybe* geothermal. Not a dollar of investment should go anywhere else.

[Quixote1818]

14. I think solar sidewalks might be more reasonable. Or perhaps the shoulders

of highways that don't get much travel unless a car pulls off or accidentally drives over the line.

[yurbud]

15. that would be an easier way to start.

[yurbud]

16. I always wondered why this concept wasn't used for mass transit: follow the freeways

then you don't have to condemn any houses, buy any property, or wrangle with different businesses.

Simply have the feds stipulate that highway and mass transit money by linked, and light rail goes with the highway or no highway.