I just read a post about Solar Roadways that was pretty damn interesting. There’s a company called “Solar Roadway” that’s proposing we quit making Asphalt roads and replace them all with solar panels. They say that if we did this nationwide, we’d have 3X more free energy available than the entire nation uses. I believe each panel of 2 lane road is 12×12′ and costs $7,000 to make. The surface (glass) is said to have the exact same traction as asphalt roads, but these have the ability to use lit-up LED lights to paint the lines and write warnings on the road. They could even melt snow and ice, and warn cars of animals on the road.
If you want follow this pipe-dream to full fruition, if all the roads in the nation were replaced it would create 2.8 million jobs and make this company the nation’s largest employer. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Free energy, no more unemployment, and it also says every mile of road can fully power 428 homes.
Guess what – it would cost 7 Trillion dollars! That’s 7 times the cost of the entire Obama health plan. Now, if it creates 3X more than is even needed to power the entire United States can’t we just charge people for the energy and pay for the solar roads? Who’s in charge of harnessing this power and distributing it to the nation? This new company – or the government? What happens to all the people working at every electrical company in the nation when all those utilities go out of business. What happens to every paving company in the nation? Will they have new jobs at this new company? Irony.
This is a great idea. Too complicated to come to fruition in our lifetimes. For gosh sakes – we still don’t have flying cars or moving sidewalks other than an escalator. Things are getting better though, I just read the other day about a company making a new-age battery the size of your refridgerator that you can buy for about $2,000 that can power your entire house. I guess it can last up to 9 years, and it’s self powering. Who knows what great idea will actually change the world, and which will remain pipe dreams.
What do you think about the possibility of solar roadways?
