• Log in with Facebook Log in with Twitter Log In with Google      Sign In    
  • Create Account
  LongeCity
              Advocacy & Research for Unlimited Lifespans

Photo

Solar Roadways

support

  • Please log in to reply
33 replies to this topic

#1 Russ Maughan

  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 08 April 2015 - 07:42 PM


These kids just nailed it in case you haven't heard. Video sais it all. Until the day we don't need roads any more, this is a great idea and supporting it with higher tech to speed it up will produce fallout in our direction. Please watch.

.

https://www.facebook...518&pnref=story



#2 niner

  • Guest
  • 16,276 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Philadelphia

Posted 09 April 2015 - 12:26 AM

Then watch this: 

 

A wee dose of reality...



#3 Mind

  • Life Member, Director, Moderator, Treasurer
  • 18,997 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Wausau, WI

Posted 09 April 2015 - 06:55 PM

Blogged about this last year.

 

Link to an engineer's critique: http://www.eetimes.c...doc_id=1323142



sponsored ad

  • Advert

#4 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 09 April 2015 - 07:12 PM

First of all his attitude is hardly scientific. He is a shill or a comedian like me on my artsie days huh.

All weather heating elements built in.

Can be repaired during any season quite quickly. A lot faster than waiting on goop to dry. Expensive goop too, magnificently overpriced.

Traction could be an issue but that is where you guys come in maybe. What would work better than glass?

Blacktop has spikey areas ...that tear up your tires.

Hexagons? ...think about it.

Goop is waterproof? Yes it is good at trapping moisture under the road and causing potholes.

Waste product from an oil industry that should be stockpiling one our most mutable substances for medical purposes, not toys for the rich.

He may not be able to clearify recycled glass but I bet you can.

2 million and climbing is a bad sign?

I shoot the rest full of holes later. Lunchtime.


  • Pointless, Timewasting x 1
  • Ill informed x 1

#5 PWAIN

  • Guest
  • 1,288 posts
  • 241
  • Location:Melbourne

Posted 10 April 2015 - 03:24 AM

I wonder if these would even be necessary with self driving cars... The main advantages seem to be power generation, melting snow and indication.

 

Indication is not required by self driving cars especially if they are in radio contact with each other and have advanced sensors.

Power generation (assuming there was a demand for it) could be far more cheaply done by a high angle sloping roof over the road, this would allow solar power generation and stop snow landing on the road.

 

I don't see this ever really getting off the ground except for maybe some rich peoples driveways and a few demo projects.



#6 ceridwen

  • Guest
  • 1,292 posts
  • 102

Member Away
  • Location:UK

Posted 10 April 2015 - 04:49 AM

Indication is not required by self driving cars? There will be a lot of accidents in the cross over period then. How are the other cars on the road to see what the self driving cars are going to do? It would be an added safety precaution if they could indicate



#7 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 10 April 2015 - 05:09 AM

Still needs a bit of perfecting. I left them a message about using poly-rubber as an undercoat that would stretch in an earthquak. Old sci-fi idea from 60 years ago. One peice sections that would include the side tunnel for maintenance. I'd assume they would be first used where ever electric cars are selling well and new roads going in. Gasoline burning cars are killing the planet. I also asked a friend of a friend :) to ask one of the oil giants to invest.



#8 niner

  • Guest
  • 16,276 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Philadelphia

Posted 10 April 2015 - 05:24 AM

The main advantages seem to be power generation, melting snow and indication.

 

 

The power generation will be less than they think, and will require a lot of expensive infrastructure to get it somewhere useful.

 

These things can not melt snow.  The thermodynamics doesn't allow it, and the fact that they claim they can do that shows you how profoundly ignorant (or deceitful?) these people are.

 

The indication will only work at night.  It won't be bright enough to see in daylight unless they use expensive high power LEDs. 

 

Traction will be lethally poor.

 

The cost will be astronomical.

 

This entire sad story shows how many STEM-illiterate hippies with money there are.  Two million bucks, wow.  Those guys will be laughing all the way to the bank.  I don't suppose there's any requirement that they actually fulfill any of their fantastic promises.  Imagine if that money went to something useful, like SENS.



#9 PWAIN

  • Guest
  • 1,288 posts
  • 241
  • Location:Melbourne

Posted 10 April 2015 - 05:42 AM

Indication is not required by self driving cars? There will be a lot of accidents in the cross over period then. How are the other cars on the road to see what the self driving cars are going to do? It would be an added safety precaution if they could indicate

 

I think you misunderstand what I mean by indication, I am referring to the new indication that the solar roadway would provide. Spending about a trillion dollars on something that is soon to be obsolete is bad planning in the extreme.

 

 


Niner, is there any way we could setup a project for SENS on something like kickstarter or indigogo? I think it might just be about the way it is presented. I'm sure a few million dollars could go a long way and the public awareness would be very valuable too.

 

 


 

This entire sad story shows how many STEM-illiterate hippies with money there are.  Two million bucks, wow.  Those guys will be laughing all the way to the bank.  I don't suppose there's any requirement that they actually fulfill any of their fantastic promises.  Imagine if that money went to something useful, like SENS.

 

 


Edited by PWAIN, 10 April 2015 - 05:41 AM.


#10 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 10 April 2015 - 11:57 PM

They're infrastructure is slowly growing. It would be fairly simple to setup mass production with they're prototypes. Choosing a place to start is the biggest issue. Once some small eco-friendly town is chosen it will be in the news everywhere. I'm just saying, it is inevitable, and some fallout in our direction would be priceless.



#11 niner

  • Guest
  • 16,276 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Philadelphia

Posted 11 April 2015 - 12:43 AM

That's kind of like saying that a perpetual motion machine is inevitable.  It would be great if it worked...


  • Good Point x 1

#12 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 11 April 2015 - 08:46 AM

No it isn't Niner. A particle fountain is a perpetual motion device. I'm just saying snooze ya looze.

If you are any judge of charecter watch the second video on they're site. The inventor talks a lot in it. Read his body language. Run it through advanced facial recognition lie detection.



#13 niner

  • Guest
  • 16,276 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Philadelphia

Posted 11 April 2015 - 01:05 PM

they're = "they are"

there = a place

their = owned by or pertaining to "them"

 

My body language = facepalm.


  • Cheerful x 1

#14 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 11 April 2015 - 01:35 PM

This is the ambulence chaser you are listening to that is poisoning the well on this idea?

https://www.youtube....lV9vRa8cilis88A

.

Be sure to thank him for the idea to put little shades over each LED and aim them at oncoming traffic when they get out of Alpha and are in Beta.


Edited by Russ Maughan, 11 April 2015 - 01:44 PM.


#15 corb

  • Guest
  • 507 posts
  • 213
  • Location:Bulgaria

Posted 11 April 2015 - 04:22 PM

I've watched a video for this years ago. Gave me a good laugh. One of the stupidest ideas I've heard.
I'm saying it as a person with a bit of electrical engineering education.

 

You put solar panels as near as possible to where the power is needed. Not as far as possible from where it is needed.

Transporting low voltage currents like these is impossible. You'd need to build a transformer to hook this up into the grid, every I don't know, every kilometer or so? So besides the already astronomical price of the roadway (and I wonder do they even mention all the roads will have to be reconstructed for this type of road to even be possible) you add the price for the transformers and it becomes a laughably unrealistic undertaking from a financial standpoint. 

It could kinda work in the States because you have large driveways in front of your houses pretty much no one else on this planet has that - most countries have a majority of small streets between tall buildings and they don't get much sun - but still even for the States I'd say it's a dumb idea. Just the added costs of operating and maintaining a grid like that would probably double your electricity bills.

You want to do something semi smart? Make solar "rooftiles" based on a similar concept. That can work. Like a solar panel but easier to install. For american homes it will work good enough. Probably save you some money of the electricity bill once you pay off your sci fi roof in a decade or two. :laugh:


  • Good Point x 1

#16 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 11 April 2015 - 10:27 PM

There will be robots all along the freeways farming, cutting and planting trees, building free housing. They can use a lot to charge up and possibly jet to the next station to unload half of they're charge. Trust me. This is inevitable. Even if we perfect self driving flying cars it is still better than the constant repair of roads as is.

 

http://www.popsci.co...d-blu-ray-discs

 

http://www.technolog...wer-dirt-cheap/

 

http://www.fuellessp...Solar_cell2.htm

 

And who knows what will develop over the next 5 years.


Edited by Russ Maughan, 11 April 2015 - 10:31 PM.

  • Ill informed x 1

#17 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 12 April 2015 - 04:36 PM

Japan to open first hotel entirely operated by robots

http://m.nydailynews...n=NYDailyNewsTw



#18 YOLF

  • Location:Delaware Delawhere, Delahere, Delathere!

Posted 13 April 2015 - 01:17 AM

Just posting a drive by...

 

These would be great for putting on homes. No christmas lights, heat the ice on your roof to prevent damage and great for not shoveling your driveway. All around convenience and durable for home uses such as these, but it would have to undergo at least another iteration to be a highway or even neighborhood road. Might happen someday.



#19 corb

  • Guest
  • 507 posts
  • 213
  • Location:Bulgaria

Posted 17 May 2015 - 10:58 AM

https://www.youtube....h?v=6-ZSXB3KDF0



#20 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 19 May 2015 - 08:17 AM

Corb, when this guy offers a solution or ways to improve Solar Roadways instead of just shilling against them I'll listen to him. How about transparent aluminum instead of glass covering? etc etc. I asked you guys for input a month ago and not one of you has suggested anything that could improve on a great idea no matter what other technologies do develope. This will still be renewable and it will be developed. Get use to it.



#21 niner

  • Guest
  • 16,276 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Philadelphia

Posted 19 May 2015 - 02:44 PM

You mean the transparent aluminum from Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home?   That's make-believe.  Or do you mean the aluminum with one of its core electrons that's been stably knocked out by a laser pulse, and is transparent to hard UV?  Hmm.  Probably a little expensive, and darn the luck, it's not transparent in the conventional sense... it doesn't let sunlight through, so I guess that's out.  Or do you mean Aluminum Oxynitride, the synthetic material that is (mostly) transparent to the important optical frequencies?  Its cost is similar to synthetic sapphire... So it's a little pricy for a road surface, but I'm sure we can work around that by deploying more robots to build stuff for us.

 

Just so I don't sound like one of those reality-based nay-sayers, let me propose a different solution for improving the durability of solar roads, composed entirely of renewable biological materials.  You take 3 parts (by weight) wing of faerius dente, 2 parts tail of lepus easterus, and 1 part micronized horn of equus unicorni, and combine them in an aqueous slurry.  This is rolled into a thin sheet, dryed, and laser sintered.  The resulting ceramic-like material is flexible, transparent, and tough enough to withstand a thermonuclear explosion, so it should work great as a road material.

   



#22 Mind

  • Life Member, Director, Moderator, Treasurer
  • 18,997 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Wausau, WI

Posted 19 May 2015 - 05:40 PM

Corb, when this guy offers a solution or ways to improve Solar Roadways instead of just shilling against them I'll listen to him. How about transparent aluminum instead of glass covering? etc etc. I asked you guys for input a month ago and not one of you has suggested anything that could improve on a great idea no matter what other technologies do develope. This will still be renewable and it will be developed. Get use to it.

 

The problem is that it is NOT a great idea. It is a waste of money (thankfully only a small amount right now). 


Edited by Mind, 13 June 2022 - 06:25 PM.


#23 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 19 May 2015 - 07:47 PM

Unicorn: Eunoch Horn (penis) Removed so safe to babysit virgins. Like you goofballs.

.

Well I still think it is worth persueing. Granted they may not work so well in a blizzard but they might if the runoff could be talored right. Electric trains could parallel them reducing weight issues and electric trucks/trailor rigs could be litened considerable if even used for more than local offloading at some point. For now just having a driveway I don't have to shovel snow would be nice. That I could design and build myself but I could not make them available en mass. You know how to reach them if you have anything constructive to add.

,

Sorry but string theory is a little boring without actually working in the field.



#24 niner

  • Guest
  • 16,276 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Philadelphia

Posted 19 May 2015 - 07:59 PM

Russ, why don't you build a snow-melting system for your driveway.  Once you figure out how many kilowatts that will take, let me know how many square meters of solar roadway you would need to generate that kind of power in the dead of winter.  Or any time, for that matter.  Hint: it will be more square meters than your driveway has available.  A lot more.  That is one of many reasons why this solar road thing is not possible.  It's all just a fantastic crock of hooey, funded by people with no science or engineering knowledge. 



#25 Mind

  • Life Member, Director, Moderator, Treasurer
  • 18,997 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Wausau, WI

Posted 19 May 2015 - 08:43 PM

Unicorn: Eunoch Horn (penis) Removed so safe to babysit virgins. Like you goofballs.

.

Well I still think it is worth persueing. Granted they may not work so well in a blizzard but they might if the runoff could be talored right. Electric trains could parallel them reducing weight issues and electric trucks/trailor rigs could be litened considerable if even used for more than local offloading at some point. For now just having a driveway I don't have to shovel snow would be nice. That I could design and build myself but I could not make them available en mass. You know how to reach them if you have anything constructive to add.

,

Sorry but string theory is a little boring without actually working in the field.

 

I don't want to sound negative, but there are so many better engineering ideas out there, so many things that could help people, so many other ideas you have promoted, etc... This one has so many obvious glaring flaws that I can't believe I am even commenting.



#26 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 19 May 2015 - 10:46 PM

Thanks :)

It's not like it has to melt 5 feet of snow at once... just each snowflake as it hits. My hand does that quite readily. I know, you're going to say my hand generates X watts of heat so not a fair comparrison, rascal. It is a fair comparrison! The trick would be difusion of course. I believe they are trying to use the wrong type of heating element but I can not afford to prototype one much less buy a house with a driveway to expeiment heh. (working on it, saving my nickles)

.

Glass is a pretty good-ish heat conductor so I dunno. They are in phase 3 alpha. Maybe by the time they are in phase 3 beta they will be hiring beta testers to toy around with them.



#27 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 21 May 2015 - 01:19 AM

excerpt from their phase 3 page - One unscrupulous individual even took our viral Solar Freakin' Roadways video (by volunteer Michael Naphan) without our permission, and has used it to create another video, in which he has embedded deliberately misleading information. He is even making money by placing advertising on it to make a profit! (We could do the same, but we chose not to do so)

http://solarroadways...reakinair.shtml

Even if I do perfect my little centripitol zenor impulse unit and defy patent protocols, build a flying chair and youtube it, find funding, ninja anyone that tries to patent troll me, it will still take years and massive effort to mass produce my hover taxi system and even then if only 5% of America is covered in Solar Roadways they will still be renewable and powering electric trains/trams or pitstops to recharge or something. Not to mention Mardigra light shows televised and the zeigeist zombies will flock to them. <3


  • Pointless, Timewasting x 1

#28 corb

  • Guest
  • 507 posts
  • 213
  • Location:Bulgaria

Posted 23 May 2015 - 11:09 AM

Corb, when this guy offers a solution or ways to improve Solar Roadways instead of just shilling against them I'll listen to him. How about transparent aluminum instead of glass covering? etc etc. I asked you guys for input a month ago and not one of you has suggested anything that could improve on a great idea no matter what other technologies do develope. This will still be renewable and it will be developed. Get use to it.

 

He already offered a solution - not making solar roadways.

Not wasting money on a doomed project is a solution in itself - why waste money on roadways at all when fossil fuels are running out at a staggering rate to begin with, personalized transport is a thing of the past this whole project is a joke. By the time they make solar roadways about as efficient as a current day roof mounted solar panel, the roof mounted solar panels would be thrice as efficient and there wouldn't even be that many roads in operation to warrant using the technology.

And he showed a successful Korean solar roadway - one where the solar panels are mounted as a roof for a cyclist alley in the middle of the road - if you want a solar roadway that bad there you effing go, a working extremely efficient, extremely cheap in comparison design.

 

Reality of the matter is instead of getting hyped up about this people could whine to their governments to sponsor everyone to buy a solar rooftop instead. But that would be the smart thing to do, why solve an issue now when you could waste decades and millions on tech that will never pan out - I can't fail to see the analogy to medical start up companies in this as well - going for an unachievable long term goal instead of quite achievable short term goals.



#29 Russ Maughan

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 167 posts
  • 2
  • Location:Chisago City, Minnesota

Posted 23 May 2015 - 11:34 AM

Oil is not running out. Rich people that enjoy driving gassers will still drive on Solar Roadways right beside electric cars on the ground; it is nastalgic. The rest of us will look down in wonder at them from our lofty abodes. Why on Earth would the rich risk their lives in the air so much? Let the poor live up there heh. Perhaps you live in the past too much, not a bad thing. It is good to be reminded who we were. Seeing into a brighter future has always been a favorite pastime with me, even if a little off the beaten path. I could list a few other ways to generate energy too. Solar Roadways is simply the best of the best. It is renewable and exciting and once it gets established on the news the younger EMO generation will flock to it with a vengence LOL.



#30 niner

  • Guest
  • 16,276 posts
  • 2,000
  • Location:Philadelphia

Posted 23 May 2015 - 01:53 PM

This thread just makes Longecity look stupid.


  • Agree x 1





Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: support

1 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users