Think about it. If it’s worthwhile and the people proposing it are qualified, then venture capital should be forthcoming and crowdfunding should be unnecessary. That leaves the pie in the sky proposals by people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing.
Note that I’m not talking about crowdfunding for charitable causes, just business proposals like “Solar Freakin’ Roadways”.
There was the impossible underwater rebreather a couple of weeks ago. The subreddit /r/shittykickstarters is a great place to keep abreast of all of the pseudoscientific crowdfunding scams.
My favorite game to play with these is “ignorance or malice”. Are these people cynically trying to rake in a buck or are they genuinely delusional that their cause will work? The solar roadways people have been at this long enough that I’m really starting to suspect they don’t have a clue about the physics or engineering and genuinely believe what they’re doing is viable.
Slight update…
http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/local_news/20160726/solar_roadway_project_crystallizing_
On the “About” page of the WIT, it says it was founded by Matt Stone, better known as the guy who writes South Park.
This sounds like a public square or a sidewalk, which is different from a highway. For one thing it doesn’t have to withstand constant high speed vehicle traffic.
Are you sure it isn’t a parody. It is just so absurd. What is this Wyoming Institute of Technology? Why haven’t Cruz and Palin publicized it more? Cruz is too smart to fall for this BS.
It’s a sister college of Wassamatta U.
The website, nationalreport.net, certainly seems to be a humor site. Sort of a cross between the Onion and our own Stupid Republican Idea of the Day thread.
As their own disclaimer page states:
:rolleyes:
Almost here.
Anybody coming to the grand opening?
More details (and a picture) here.. I note that it’s now a Solar Freakin Cycleway now:
Here’s another good summary articlecovering Solar Road, Wattway and Sola road (a Dutch version).
Thanks for that article** lisiate**. It looks like the Europeans are a little ahead of us.
ITS ALIVE
Should be link to live webcam
I went to the grand opening ceremony Friday and was a little disappointed. They weren’t quite ready, it was still just a hole in the pavement. But, as of late Saturday night, it is done. Not a roadway, just a section of a public square, but the revolution has to start somewhere.
This thread was started 2.5 years ago. I would say that this is pretty small progress for the money.
Yeah, a little sidewalk in the middle of nowhere Kansas. Oh well, Zefram Cochrane build the first warp drive in Montana. 
It’s not very exciting. Shouldn’t it be lighting up or something?
A small pedestrian park is not a highway. I still don’t think that this will ever be practical for highway use. In any case it’s not the most efficient way to do solar. But it’s all been covered in this thread already.
Solar Freakin’ Sidewalks! 
The criticism against solar roadways was never that it was impossible, simply that it was wildly uneconomical. A demonstration project doesn’t really address any of those concerns.
I just took a look at the livecam. It seems what they have built is essentially an electric Twister board. Fun for bored Idahoan teenagers, but not much of an answer to America’s energy and transportation needs.
But America’s Twister needs will be a thing of the past!
Are those test panels powering anything (besides themselves)?
I don’t see them ever being a notable part of our road system but I’m sure they’d be swell for corporate courtyards or outdoor mall plazas and good for a few LEED credits if they can actually make something light up besides themselves.