Could Solar Panels Replace Concrete Or Asphalt Roads?

Senior researcher Mike Barnard\'s answer
At the Institute of Energy and Policy at Quora, yes, they can.
The basic engineering of the solar road seems to be robust and has been well considered.
Can they do this economically?
It is very difficult to see.
In order to create a business case that can be compelling, you have to add many edge use cases together.
Then, all the questions of the idea were not considered.
The road now is as cheap and poorly maintained as possible.
This is because, by any reasonable standard, they are too much and expensive to build and maintain.
Solar roads make them more expensive. -
According to the assumption, you are 10 to 40 times more expensive-
In theory, it creates the ability to avoid some costs and make others more viable, but a lot of the extra value seems rather fragile.
They will not be able to overcome this huge cost increase by generating electricity.
For example, they want to replace the painted road markings. -
Will reduce the light hitting the solar panel. -
LED road marking.
Well, it just adds a lot of cost and heat, not necessarily particularly noticeable during the day, but also places LEDs and their wiring between panels and sunlight.
Similarly, the magic of moving lane markers that allow traffic patterns to change will also be an expensive technical solution for some paint that needs to be restored once a year or two, and perhaps some overhead signage. (
Photos taken from the solar road site).
They want to add sensors for accidents, traffic flow and something else.
Of course, most of this can be done easily through traffic camera analysis, mobile tower data analysis, and occasionally by stretching the count hose on the road.
In other words, they want to replace existing data streams that are fully adequate and underutilized with expensive infrastructure.
Of course, all the extra lights and small inventions require electricity and the sun will not shine all the time.
And then?
For example, in order to continue to provide road marking, roads absorb a large amount of electricity from the grid.
So they talked about integrated storage for a period of time, which is always a sign of not taking into account the main infrastructure of renewable energy, and then, they have moved to the grid connection for backup, this is where they should really start.
Then they have the use case to bury the power transmission wire.
This is an attempt to turn a need into a virtue.
After all, the roads per square meter need electricity most of the time, so they have to connect with wires and they will run them under the roads, so why not bury the transmission lines, how about keeping them out of danger?
Because it\'s really expensive. how about it?
They claim that the snow on the road will melt automatically.
I don\'t know about you, but this tells me that they will have heating coils under every square foot of road because the sun will not shine after dark, occasional LEDs do not heat more than non-LEDsheat-
The conductive glass next to them, when the snow falls in many places, it pours a thick layer that the sun cannot pass through.
So these extra heating coils also need to draw power from the grid.
This will hardly happen, so you will rely on snow plows anywhere in the winter.
So what\'s the problem with the snow plow?
Well, they have heavy metal blades that scrape across the road.
In this case, the road is a uneven glass surface, because the smooth surface will become an ice in the rain, so it needs to be textured.
And snow-sweeping blades will blast across these collisions at 30-
Scrape them off and crush them at 50 miles an hour.
Oh, leaving a lot of snow in the cracks between bumps, which again reduces efficiency.
Salt, gravel and other substances may also be required, which is interesting when you have a pile of cracks between glass panels that allow salt water in solar panels, LEDs, wires and heating coils.
There is also a small problem, that is, a panel is partially unstable due to frost and snow plows, tearing it off directly, leaving a square, a few inches deep pot hole, sharp edge, the car tires can be rolled.
I think it\'s not a thoughtful solution for places where there is winter, from a couple of perspectives.
The pebbles are also very interesting.
In general, the texture on the road is called a rumble bar, used to generate vibration and noise, to remind drivers that they are doing something stupid, such as straying too quickly from their shoulders or approaching the toll station.
On the solar road, though lower than the rumbling vocal cords, they will be an ongoing, less enjoyable ride accompaniment.
It is not feasible at any distance on the highway;
Voters may not allow their driving experience to drop significantly in cost.
Therefore, this may be limited to low-speed roads in parts of the world that do not experience winter.
Good enough. there are still many ways to go.
In addition to the small problems of sun-baked glass, solar panels, and led, the rubber compound is scrubbed off by slipping, turning, and normal tire degradation.
They have tested this by rubbing their hands on the rubber and then wiping it with their fingers based on their FAQ, but this is a long way from the Arizona desert heat.
More likely, any surface with a fairly large traffic flow will become so dirty, especially in the corners, the performance of the solar panels will drop significantly and need to be cleaned very regularly, either way, it is quite a business case.
Of course, they are eager to do more testing because they are committed to the course and want to succeed, and people are not often curious about it.
Most likely due to calm heads, they are encouraged to try the concept in the parking lot and driveway. Well, okay.
If a parking lot is filled in the afternoon, there will be a lot of shadows on the glass, which is not the most obvious way.
This is more likely to be the most useful for a white sky car park, which does describe a lot of lanes.
The more obvious way to look is to install a simple hood on a row of cars and instead install fewer designs and cheaper solar panels on it.
Drivers then have an extra reason to park in the parking lot and when they do, they don\'t reduce the effectiveness of the system.
It seems reasonable to me and may be cheaper and easier to install. Win-win, actually.
Solar power turns the parking lot into a green working generator, maybe it\'s just in the driveway.
White Sky, rarely drive compared to the road, connected to the home, where there are hoses to water the grass, so it is easy to wash off.
Of course, in this age of zero
You can ignore the money for renting roof solar and it\'s hard to understand why someone would install solar panels in their driveway.
Let me be skeptical about solar roads.
This question first appeared on Quora: Can Solar Panels Replace concrete or asphalt roads?