Solar roads

Post Reply New Topic

An example of the kind of stuff I'd like to see at least explored for infrastructure improvements for the country:


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep4L18zOEYI&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

Very, very interesting. I'd love to see this implemented. However, I don't know if some areas would be appropriate for this kind of road. I was watching a documentary recently where they were talking about roads in areas that flood frequently. The fact that the roads are solid actually helps to flood the area. So a company is experimenting with porous road beds, right now I think only in the New Orleans recovery effort. These roads allow water to drain through them into the groundwater. So I don't know if glass roads in these areas would be a good idea; however, everywhere else would certainly be good. And perhaps to balance the fact that some areas cannot have photovoltaic roads, they could invest in alternate means of energy, such as geothermal, or something even more awesome I'm not aware of

I like the idea, but this has got to cost an arm and leg per mile of road to produce. Maybe in another 50 years the technology would be cost effective and simple to implement but with the unimaginable about of road mileage out there it's not feasible at the moment.

Could be more likely if this was scaled back some so that asphalt roads could be modified to generate power from their heat and pressure absorption in the interim until the this technology gets up the point where it would cost effective to implement.