Solar Roadways Gets $50K to Move Forward

[n2doc]

y Keith Barry October 14, 2010



Solar panels may be coming to a road near you a bit sooner thanks to funding from the GE Ecomagination Challenge.

The husband and wife team of Scott and Julie Brusaw we told you about back in September were the first recipients of a Challenge Award of $50,000. Their project to pave roadways with solar panels received the highest number of community votes on the Ecomagination webpage.

According to Scott Brusaw, the award will be used to further research and attract talent to the Solar Roadways project. “This prize money will give us the funding needed to continue bringing together a team of the best and brightest engineers, scientists, companies, and universities on board,” he said.

The Brusaws are already working with university researchers to develop a glass “case” that’s as strong as or stronger than pavement and can encapsulate solar panels. Once these panels are put together, Brusaw envisions parking lots that can provide power for nearby businesses and eventually a network of roadways that double as a clean electric grid. “Our Phase I research is complete and we’re gearing up for Phase II. So far, so good,” he said. “We have a lot of testing to do, but no roadblocks anticipated!”



Read More http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/10/solar-roadways-gets-50k-to-move-forward/

[mattvermont]

1. what advantage does this have

over vast solar farms on marginal land?
An electricity producing road substrate sounds crazy expensive, with no advantage to cheaper ways.

[n2doc]

2. The claim is it is the same cost per mile as asphalt

and there are no right of way issues, which is huge given the fact that "marginal land" is always in the eye of the beholder. And it can be used for signaling and lane changes as well. I still am skeptical that it can stand up to the pounding that a road gets over time. But if it can stand up, and is cost effective, then it seems like a great thing.

[Kolesar]

5. &What advantage does this have over a PV sunshade over a parking deck?

It would have to be cheaper to build a superstructure for PVs than to build PVs into a road surface. How do they make the wire terminations?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. And just how would you like your roadkill prepared, well done or

just singed a tad?? Imagine the implications in a multiple car wreck situation?? Rubber suits all around... heh!!!

[Javaman]

4. While I find this interesting, why don't they run water pipes under roads

in the hotter areas of the nation? Those area's could easily turn that water into steam.

[Xithras]

6. Not possible

The boiling point of water is 212 degrees.

The melting point of most asphalt is 175-200 degrees.

A dark asphalt parking lot, on a 100 degree day, will have a surface temperature of about 150-175 degrees.

So...your asphalt doesn't get hot enough, and even if it did, the asphalt would melt before the water would flash to steam.

It IS possible for commercial buildings in some areas to use asphalt parking lots as a heat collector for a solar water system. There have been a few succesful experiments done, but nothing large scale.

It's also theoretically possible to link something like a Stirling engine into that system, harnessing the thermal energy for other possible uses...including electricity generation. The efficiency of a system like that would be very low, though, so it's not going to be used as a primary source of power generation. It HAS been cited as a possible source of power for things like trickle chargers for electric cars. You could use the thermal energy of the parking lot surface to "top up" the batteries of the electric cars that park on it.

[Javaman]

7. Upon reflection, I really didn't think this through.

I'm usually smarter than that. LOL

it was one of those, "it looks good on paper" thoughts. :rofl: