Solar panel roads trial in Calgary

[speedog]

Solar panel roads trial in Calgary - link. Will be interesting to see how well this performs here.

[ExtraSlow]

solar all the things!

[Sugarphreak]

....

[slinkie]

this seems really gimmicky and stupid to me, although i'm not familiar with solar

so they won't work when there's traffic, dirt, or snow covering them. When they break down or are damaged, the road will be closed. And to top it all off, kids will probably vandalize them

This isn't manhattan or something, we have endless flat brown nothingness in every direction, is space really at such a premium that we need to put the panels in the roads? Wouldn't it be more optimal to place them on top of schools or out of town?

[sexualbanana]

Calgary gets the most sunlight in the country, so why not give it a shot. It's not like a it's a wholesale switch.

[The_Penguin]

This guy is a bit well.... enthusiastic, which some people enjoy, others are put off by, but he's pretty smart bloke when it comes to electronics engineering.
He seems to think it's not viable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obS6TUVSZds

[Silviawannab]

Very cool. I'm really excited about the solar roof too.

Exciting and interesting times.

[beyond_ban]

a) How will they handle snow plows and gravel/salt in the winter?
b) Pot hole resistant? Smooth roads just like Phoenix?

[The_Penguin]

And a small "implementation" in Idaho

https://www.eevblog.com/2016/10/18/e...lation-busted/

[NoPulp]

I was just having a conversation with my dad about solar power. We use it a ton at our work for irrigation control. Solar power has come a long long way recently. He went to a conference for solar power recently and was telling me some of it.

German is the world leader for solar power. A way to rate locations is how many KW you can produce from a W per year. A good goal is 1. German is about 0.8 and Alberta is actually 1.2. Alberta is actually a very good place for solar power. Efficiency is affected by the amount of sunlight but also the temperature, so we are better than a place like Arizona.

Depend on the incentives that you get solar will pay itself off in about 12 years but can be as low as 8. The panels typically have 25 year warranty (being 80% effective). So the pay off isn't the best, yet.

There is a huge push for solar power here and you'll see more farms in the near future.

[HiTempguy1]

A lot of people also dont understand that solar panels also are self clearing of snow and ice (angle and design dependent of course).

Solar is most certainly THE renewable resource to embrace. It just shouldnt be rushed towards blindly.

[Gestalt]

Solar is a no brainer.

I wonder if we ever use enough solar, that we can cause global cooling, because the suns energy is now not absorbed or reflected, but used to do work.

[The_Penguin]

Solar is definitely the future for sure, and improvements are coming fast and furious.
But, it's not the holy grail just yet.

[BigMass]

Solar is the future and government involvement is necessary when scientific advancements get ahead of poor human social and economic structures. Human morals, ethics and ideas always lag behind scientific advancements, so we need government to take the role of subsidizing that which is not currently profitable but obviously necessary for future human flourishing and well being. Technology always has to start from some point where the costs are originally astronomical and not economically viable, but the continued advancements and scientific discoveries are a boon for societal advancement and eventually economically viable and furthermore superior. CERN is not a money maker but we owe the, "Internet" to it's existence. More people need to think about that. This is why libertarian economic ideals are completely bankrupt in modern society.

[kertejud2]

Originally posted by beyond_ban
a) How will they handle snow plows and gravel/salt in the winter?

From the article:

A subsidiary of Bouygues SA has designed rugged solar panels, capable of withstand the weight of an 18-wheeler truck, that they’re now building into road surfaces. After nearly five years of research and laboratory tests, they’re constructing 100 outdoor test sites...

Followed by:

“We need to test for all kinds of different traffic and climate conditions,” Harelle said. “I want to find the limits of it. We think that maybe it will not be able to withstand a snow plow.”



So in short: if they knew, they probably wouldn't need to do a trial.

[beyond_ban]

Originally posted by kertejud2


From the article:

A subsidiary of Bouygues SA has designed rugged solar panels, capable of withstand the weight of an 18-wheeler truck, that they’re now building into road surfaces. After nearly five years of research and laboratory tests, they’re constructing 100 outdoor test sites...

Followed by:

“We need to test for all kinds of different traffic and climate conditions,” Harelle said. “I want to find the limits of it. We think that maybe it will not be able to withstand a snow plow.”



So in short: if they knew, they probably wouldn't need to do a trial.

I was asking rhetorically, as in i am curious to see how it holds up.

[revelations]

Originally posted by The_Penguin
And a small "implementation" in Idaho

https://www.eevblog.com/2016/10/18/e...lation-busted/

Holy fuck, I hope the CoC isnt planning on using the same product/vendor here.

[sexualbanana]

Originally posted by BigMass
Solar is the future and government involvement is necessary when scientific advancements get ahead of poor human social and economic structures. Human morals, ethics and ideas always lag behind scientific advancements, so we need government to take the role of subsidizing that which is not currently profitable but obviously necessary for future human flourishing and well being. Technology always has to start from some point where the costs are originally astronomical and not economically viable, but the continued advancements and scientific discoveries are a boon for societal advancement and eventually economically viable and furthermore superior. CERN is not a money maker but we owe the, "Internet" to it's existence. More people need to think about that. This is why libertarian economic ideals are completely bankrupt in modern society.

Isn't that the basis of most nationalized infrastructure programs? ie. telephone, electric grid, etc?

I think AGT was a government-run company before it was privatized. If I remember correctly.

[flipstah]

No pothole means I'm for it.

[speedog]

Originally posted by sexualbanana


Isn't that the basis of most nationalized infrastructure programs? ie. telephone, electric grid, etc?

I think AGT was a government-run company before it was privatized. If I remember correctly.

Well AGT was the abbreviated form of Alberta Government Telephones so yupp, you are remembering correctly and I was there from the government owned entity to what it's become today.