# Solar FREAKIN' Roadways! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 23, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129 "2014-05-23T22:11:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/41 "2014-05-24T17:19:55Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > [Solar panels actually drain the sun of it’s energy!](http://nationalreport.net/solar-panels-drain-suns-energy-experts-say/) That was such a great article!:D:D:D:D I’m bookmarking that site, right next to my Onion and Free Wood Post bookmarks. Seriously, though, I would have figured the solarizing would be like canopies 20’ overhead with gaps between structures to provide alternating shaded and sunlit portions of road. That way the collectors would be above the cars and during daylight people could still look out and see the scenery beyond the road. I think it would be easier to do the paving idea in a small community first, replacing the driveway of each home with these devices (and the rooftops with the traditional stuff, right?). They could include sensors and programming so they say [SIZE=7]Dad![/SIZE] [FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=7][SIZE=7]Home [/SIZE][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma]Welcome [/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]and [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Tahoma] DID YOU[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma]PUT OUT[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma]THE TRASH[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma]???[/FONT] ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/42 "2014-05-24T18:20:13Z")
Here’s the FAQ from their website. [http://www.solarroadways.com/faq.shtml](http://www.solarroadways.com/faq.shtml) It answers a lot of questions. But I’m not totally convinced of this as of yet. Certainly it could make sense on walkways and such, but for heavily traveled highways there are a lot of questions to be answered. As others have pointed out, the roadside conduits raise a lot of issues. If it can be made economical and able to withstand use, then maybe some percentage of our highway system could be paneled, but everything? I’m skeptical. Their short-term goal appears to be selling to large chains for parking lots. That may be achievable. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/43 "2014-05-24T18:23:34Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Their short-term goal appears to be selling to large chains for parking lots. That may be achievable. And they will be such a great temptation to teenagers all around. “Unbreakable glass? Challenge accepted!”. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/44 "2014-05-24T18:54:21Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > And they will be such a great temptation to teenagers all around. “Unbreakable glass? Challenge accepted!”. If an 18 wheeler can’t break it then teenagers probably won’t have much luck. However, I suppose that they could try to steal them. They claim to have an answer to that. [http://www.solarroadways.com/faq.shtml#faqTheft](http://www.solarroadways.com/faq.shtml#faqTheft) ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/45 "2014-05-24T18:58:39Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > If an 18 wheeler can’t break it then teenagers probably won’t have much luck. One word. Sledgehammer. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/46 "2014-05-24T19:02:27Z")
I couldn’t watch more than a few minutes of that video. It was so damn annoying and patronizing/smarmy. It actually made me want to take those solar panels and throw them right INTO the sun. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/47 "2014-05-24T19:13:50Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > One word. Sledgehammer. You can make the same point about a lot of our current infrastructure and personal property, but the last time I looked it wasn’t being dismantled wholesale by insane teenagers. I don’t see teenagers going down the street with a sledgehammer smashing car windows. Sure, there are occasional isolated incidents, but not often enough to make car windows economically nonviable. Those concrete stop things at the end of parking spaces in lots can probably be broken up by teenagers with a sledgehammer. Have you ever heard of it happening? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/48 "2014-05-24T19:39:11Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > You can make the same point about a lot of our current infrastructure and personal property, but the last time I looked it wasn’t being dismantled wholesale by insane teenagers. I don’t see teenagers going down the street with a sledgehammer smashing car windows. Sure, there are occasional isolated incidents, but not often enough to make car windows economically nonviable. Those concrete stop things at the end of parking spaces in lots can probably be broken up by teenagers with a sledgehammer. Have you ever heard of it happening? It’s glass roads. GLASS roads. It screams to be tested, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/49 "2014-05-24T20:22:49Z")
Seems like a lot of light pollution. Do we really need every country lane and rural highway glowing like Tron? System seems impractically expensive for residential use, recovering the cost versus asphalt would likely take forever. Children will be deprived of a surface for their chalk drawings and will need to draw wangs using cold, impersonal LEDs. Parking lots don’t realistically need to change their layout pretty much ever (and can you really just add handicapped spots without the accompanying signage – wouldn’t anyone just say ‘It wasn’t a handicapped spot when I got here’) . Of course, a parking stall with a car on it isn’t generating electricity to recoup its costs. I don’t believe for a second that they’ll be “snow proof” in a heavy snowfall and picture them covered in a slushy mess of half melted snow and water fenced in by the snow on the shoulders. The cost for the entire infrastructure thing is, of course, pretty much a nonstarter. I could see it for some bike/walking paths or courtyards for offices, hotels and stuff like that. Probably be nice for trying to achieve LEED Gold status. Covering all the roads in America so we can generate a bajillion gigawatts for everyone is another story. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/50 "2014-05-24T20:27:16Z")
Highways get covered with all kinds of dirt from the cars that drive on them. Not a big deal with a normal road but I figure it’s going to knock the efficiency of solar panels to hell. Driving conditions will also go to hell because you’re increasing the cost of road maintenance by a big factor. You’ve given roads a whole new way they can stop working. Up to now, the only consideration of whether a road is functional is if you can drive on it. Now a road can stop working and need to be repaired because it’s not generating power. And while using solar panels is “green” making them is definitely not. Lots of energy and all kinds of highly toxic chemicals are used in the manufacture of solar panels. [The Not-So-Sunny Side of Solar Panels](http://voiceofsandiego.org/2009/02/16/the-not-so-sunny-side-of-solar-panels/) ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/51 "2014-05-24T20:49:26Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Someone on FB quote a price of $7000 per Hexagon. 😮 Don’t know how true that is, however. I saw that too. There is no way one of these panels is going to produce $7k worth of electricity in three years, which is the claimed “pay for itself” time. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/52 "2014-05-24T21:00:53Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I saw that too. There is no way one of these panels is going to produce $7k worth of electricity in three years, which is the claimed “pay for itself” time. Could we maybe keep the argument on something more factual than “something someone posted on Facebook”? As stupid and seemingly illogical as this innovation seems, we can at least stick to facts and reasonable inferences and not social media pharts. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/53 "2014-05-24T21:13:11Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Could we maybe keep the argument on something more factual than “something someone posted on Facebook”? As stupid and seemingly illogical as this innovation seems, we can at least stick to facts and reasonable inferences and not social media pharts. What I meant was I saw the $7000/panel figure, not that I saw it on FB. It seems to come from this [Telegraph](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/solarpower/6155110/Solar-panel-roads-could-solve-energy-crisis.html)article from '09. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/54 "2014-05-24T22:31:56Z")
That video made me what to crank up a Chinese made Russian run coal fueled nuclear reactor just for spite. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/55 "2014-05-24T23:15:48Z")
This is no doubt impractical, but people are really reaching for things to criticize. I just can’t see teenagers attacking parking lots with sledgehammers. If that’s really a concern, security cameras are cheap as are signs warning of fines or jail time. Light pollution? The LEDs aren’t required for the things to work. You could just not use them or you could make models that don’t even have them. And who’s going to worry about LED light in a well illuminated McDonald’s lot or a highway illuminated with sodium lamps and car headlights? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/56 "2014-05-24T23:32:48Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Light pollution? The LEDs aren’t required for the things to work. The LEDs are how all the road markings are displayed. All of the shoulder lines, lane lines, turn arrows, etc would be illuminated. It was sort of a major selling point for the narrator. Everything from a thousand “Tron” references to glowing moose hoofprints. They sure weren’t saying “Lay these down and then paint on them!” which is probably a good thing since I bet paint wouldn’t stick real well to glass under road wear conditions. As for parking lots, I explicitly mentioned currently dark areas. You know, the sort of places people go to escape light pollution. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/57 "2014-05-24T23:41:54Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > The LEDs are how all the road markings are displayed. All of the shoulder lines, lane lines, turn arrows, etc would be illuminated. It was sort of a major selling point for the narrator. Everything from a thousand “Tron” references to glowing moose hoofprints. They sure weren’t saying “Lay these down and then paint on them!” which is probably a good thing since I bet paint wouldn’t stick real well to glass under road wear conditions. > > As for parking lots, I explicitly mentioned currently dark areas. You know, the sort of places people go to escape light pollution. From the FAQ: > [@](#): > > Won’t the LEDs cause light pollution? > > We want to do everything we can to minimize light pollution. The LEDs can be dimmed or even turned off if no vehicles are on the road. We envision activating the LEDs 1/2 mile ahead and 1/4 mile behind a vehicle. If you were to see the adjacent lane lighting up, then you’d know an oncoming vehicle is 1/2 mile ahead. Anyway, if road markings were as bright as street lamps, wouldn’t it blind drivers? I don’t think they need to be that bright. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/58 "2014-05-24T23:47:21Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Anyway, if road markings were as bright as street lamps, wouldn’t it blind drivers? I don’t think they need to be that bright. I didn’t say they would be as bright as street lamps but they would be throwing out a bunch of upward illumination. Not that light pollution is the only criticism of course but it’s a valid concern. ---
**Author:** ![Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/section_maker_jupe/32/1424_2.png) [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Section_Maker_Jupe)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/59 "2014-05-24T23:57:06Z")
I think sidewalks or small bikepaths is a better place to start with this tech. Or perhaps you engineers out there could reverse heat flow from asphalt back to electrical current.🙂 Another downside? “Roving bands of criminals, armed with car batteries, stealing power.” Sounds like Nigeria!!:eek: I made that up. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129/60 "2014-05-25T01:57:56Z")
There would be lots of joins between the tiles. Will this make for a noisy ride on highways? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solar-freakin-roadways/689129.md?page=4)