Missouri is about to experiment with power from an unlikely source — its roads

a reply to: Bedlam

We need rolling roads. They need to be covered and the roofs need to be PV arrays.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: Bedlam

We need rolling roads. They need to be covered and the roofs need to be PV arrays.

The roads must roll? Thought that was nuclear.

a reply to: Bedlam

Had to find the quote:

The city of San Francisco replaced its antiquated cable cars with moving stairways, powered with the Douglas-Martin Solar Reception Screens.

a reply to: Phage

Methinks your fingers were in your cheek, again.

a reply to: Bedlam

Works for me.

And sidewalks.

And the back of billboards.

etc. etc. etc.

a reply to: BO XIAN

Methinks your fingers were in your cheek, again.

No idea what that means.
No desire to know what that means.

a reply to: Phage

Tough tacos.

tongue in cheek . . . fingers in cheek.

I read a novel once . . . about a rolling roadway . . . a preposterous thing with faster and faster lanes toward the center of this massive rubber like roadway.

Your posts above sound like that novel.

a reply to: BO XIAN

Good for you.
Now look up the source of the quote.

a reply to: Phage

Not a priority.

a reply to: Phage

Ah. I had stored it away as having been related to Solar-x.

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: enlightenedservant

Right lets see how this handles a real world test before we poop all over it and if it under performs can it be improved.

I prefer to call it a dumb idea even before it's tested. I know a lot about engineering and I know a dumb idea when I see one.

Solar panels on roofs might be a good idea but the economics of those is marginal. When you add all the negatives of trying to do the same thing on a road way, the cost goes way up because now you need to support the weight of a truck, so economics go from marginal to completely impractical, even before you take into account reduced efficiency from being covered with road dirt/ grime, leaking oil, and from the glass being scratched from tires with little rocks in the treads, etc.

Then there's the power distribution grid and how you get the power from where it's being generated to where it's being used, that don't seem to be thought out at all, and other issues also.

There is just no way this makes any sense on roadways. A driveway instead of a roadway, maybe, but you don't need a lot of fancy lights in your driveway and you'll still probably find it more economical to install solar panels on your roof. They should cost less because they don't have to support the weight of a car for starters.

Maybe a good thing that it will create a lot of jobs and new debt in the process of it's being proven not to be viable.

Maybe that's all that they intend...

If all you want are fancy lights in the roadway, you can encapsulate small amounts of nuclear waste in glass with some phosphor and embed THOSE in the roadway. They'll glow for centuries with no power at all.

A bit more and the road will stay warm in winter. No more snowplowing.

a reply to: Bedlam

Heh.
When I was a kid my dad had a ships clock with glowing hands and numerals.
I read in a science book about nuclear scintillation, grabbed a magnifying glass and headed to my closet. Sure enough, little sparklies.

Moon property is going at a good price...

originally posted by: Blackfinger
Moon property is going at a good price...

Moon property? Who owns the Moon? Aren't there treaties against owning things in Space?

I think they should try it in California first. To suck up some of that excess tax loot and revenue from all those wealthy entertainment industry liberals who spent the better half of the last century plundering the rest of the country by forcing people to pay for the privileged of being marinated their propaganda all their lives. I'm sure there's still plenty of residual wealth to redistribute among those fine folks.