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Solar consultant here, I don't see these being practical.

The bumps in the glass they are using will tear up tires and make the most god awful noise when you drive over them.

Commercial solar panels are at about 24% efficiency right now. That means 24% of the sun they take in is being converted to electricity. What happens when technology advances? I mean unless those two have some ties with the government to get more efficient panels, it seems like a waste until our technology is up there.

Who owns the electricity produced? Will it be tied back into the grid so that power companies can continue to charge exorbitant prices per watt?

What about the taxpayers money to even get something like this nation wide? All the production and redoing the roads would be killer for the average American.

Working in the solar industry, one of the biggest rejections we get about solar is that it looks ugly. Putting a few LED lights on it isn't going to make it any better. Not to mention all the resources that will be needed to manufacture these panels will pretty much offset any environmental benefits for a while.

It's a cool concept, but I don't think it's practical.

Seems very unrealistic ..... perhaps one day, if I had to guess it's not happening in our near future.

Meh!
What about Earthquakes, maintenance costs?
Btw: The ground is always moving.. So, what would they do about that?

This probably wouldn't work here where it can be +30C in summer and -30C in winter.

I highly doubt the people who design the panel's surface would overlook the obvious effects it will have on tires...If these bumps on the glass do cause a problem the panels can be re-surfaced as this project is in it's infancy..

The panels makes for a modular road configuration so they can be changed out in sections as technology evolves...And these people would be working with the government to pull this off if the project is green lighted...

My guess is the city/municipality/government that would own the electricity produced by the infrastructure the tax payers money build. Just like the current road ways. It's probably better than some private power company owning it and charging us high fees per watt...

This is a good argument as it would cost trillions of dollars to re-do the roads with these solar panel technology...But if it is done in stages and if tax payers can see reductions in their energy bills along the way, as well as a city requiring less funds for road maintenance work (no more painting lanes, plowing snow etc) it could make the transition more financially digestible...
Looks are subjective...Some of us will think it looks aesthetically pleasing but more appealing than looks is the benefits it offers...Using re-cycled materials is also a bonus because the current method (I think, not sure) isn't using recyclable materials..
I don't agree as everything in our technological evolution points to systems such as these...Our society is gravitating towards being more technologically connected in every way each year and is more concern with energy conservation...This dual purpose road fits the bill...

I don't see this going into full effect across the nation any time soon but what will happen is small sections of a community/city trying it out as test projects...We'll probably see hybrid roads in our time...solar panels roads within cities while the highways remain as asphalt...

Do you honestly think, it would reduce the cost of... energy bills?

It's way more stable, but still way in it's early stages.

I mentioned the 24% efficiency of my company's panels. Factor in that if even a fraction of the panel is being shaded that efficiency drops drastically. I'm talking like if even 3% of the panel is shaded, you're looking at a drop of about 3/4 production from the panels.

It would also be a long time before the savings from these panels offsets the cost it would take to redo huge portions of road.

An average house runs on about 3-4 kWs per day. That's roughly 12-16 panels for just ONE house, and these panels they're using for the road are considerably smaller than their residential counterparts.

The video doesn't mention specifics like efficiency or how many watts each panel produces, it just throws buzzwords at you with impact font. I'd like to see more specifications

Dream on mofos.




Cool idea, but can't say I would want light up roads anyway.

Compelling ? He destroyed this proposition.

And so the pendulum swings the other way...

To be fair, the smug British-accented guy has some bullshit in his refutation as well. Eg. His whole tirade against using heated solar tiles to melt snow. You don't need to actually heat ice back to water (equivalent to heating water from 0C to 70C he says), you need to make the ground temperature above a certain temperature so the snow does not deposit in the first place.

Also he calculates the costs of the materials at retail cost (the amount it would cost if he went to the store himself to buy it) not the cost in bulk, which is how the manufacturing company would sell in. Uses quality of regular glass to compare hardness (from a Wikipedia article to) as opposed to tempered glass (just cause they have the same name doesn't mean they aren't eons apart in terms of technology)

It's a cool concept, probably not feasible economically or technology wise to be rolled out anytime soon over the US, but the way the smugcuntish British guy is comparing it to pogo sticks going to the moon as if it's never possible is just complete bullshit.

Civil engineer here and this has next to no uses. It could only be used in parking lots, in regions where there is absolutely no snow. The technology has to GREATLY improve before it can even start to be considered an option for actual roads, let alone highways.

Tire installer here. We have enough business as it is. We don't need this.

To be fair, that would be some awesome job security for you if they went through with this

Solar panel here, I'm not ready.

Deal with this thing is that it offers little value as road replacement and just installing solar panels everywhere would be a million times more effective in every sense of the word.

It's kind of like working at a cemetery or crematorium, people are always gonna die, and they will always need tires.

And it would cause... environmental damage in the process.