Dramatically new Technology!

[viking60]

Check out this brand new technology - it will solve all your problems:

wait for it...

wait for it...

.....

[Snorkasaurus]

Are these any of these that are currently installed in a cold climate? I have heard that they'll heat themselves and that they'll be slip-proof all winter, but wonder what the practical performance is. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of solar power, just not the idea of selling off all of our snow plows and then finding out that 5 consecutive days of -30º weather with no sunlight through the snowstorm renders the roads useless until April.

S.

[viking60]

Yeah I cannot imagine that driving on glass will be good.

[Snorkasaurus]

Yeah I cannot imagine that driving on glass will be good.

Hmmm, here are some other thoughts that don't seem to have answers in their FAQ:

1. How much oil is used in the production and distribution of these modules?
2. In order to make the glass non-slip it needs to have some kind of imperfection in the surface that makes it rough (to create friction). That imperfection must reduce the efficiency of the panels, which are already limited to about 17% anyways... panels placed on non-driving surfaces (such as a roof or standalone) can have plain old glass without imperfections and increased efficiency.
3. Skid marks and other potential surface covering issues (dirt, oil, grease, etc.) have not actually been tested
4. Their solution for theft is that each panel has a microprocessor that will provide location information somehow to the rest of the roadway. I don't understand how a disconnected processor will be able to provide location information. I also find it funny that they would joke about people being caught on "World's Dumbest Criminal" when the reality of it would more likely be instructions being posted at instructables.com on how to remove the processor.
5. They mention that they would want to have all homes convert to DC power so that they would not be subject to the losses of conversion to AC (for power transmission) and back to DC (for appliance use) but the process of converting all homes would require massive financial investment on the part of property owners and an even more massive resource cost in doing the work. And there would be a giant mountain of old AC appliances (or at least their power supplies).
6. It sounds like they have done some testing on cold climate roadways but it doesn't seem like they have considered a number of factors including reduced sun-hours, temporary grid failures, snowbank accumulation at roadside, people who have chains on their tires, snowmobiles that would scrape the surface far more than tires would, etc.
7. They specifically mention that they love the idea of Google's driverless car and frankly, I just can't get behind Google's motivation to invade my privacy. In case anyone might not believe that Google has a complete disrespect for people's privacy... I live on a private road that is not owned by any level of my government and Google drove on it and took photographs of my home. When I contacted them and asked to have the photos removed I was essentially told to go "word my grandmother dislikes" myself in slightly more polite terms. Supporting Google's privacy invasion is lost on me.
8. They claim that their parking lot (dimensions not given) can produce 5000W of power, but I am pretty sure that a typical residential roof (which must be much smaller than their parking lot) can produce double that.
9. They love electric vehicles and admit that their two drawbacks are "range and the fact that they are typically charged with energy from fossil fuels"... but fail to mention that electric vehicles are still made of dozens of barrels of oil.
10. They mention that they did a "dirt test" with some roof panels and I guess that means they assume their road panels will perform the same (9% decrease in power generation from being dirty). They then went on to say "Most roads with high speed vehicles keep themselves pretty clean, as most small particles are blown off by the passing vehicles, with the exception of spills from oil, transmission fluid etc.". I don't know why they would think that testing a set of roof panels would be the same as testing their road panels, and I don't know what roads they are traveling on, 'cause the roads here are filthy with oil and grease. In fact, when I drive my motorcycle (no windshield) I can actually feel the layer of grease and oil on my face and clothes when I get home.

Don't get me wrong, I still like the idea of getting the hell off oil, I just don't think that these things will get us there.

S.

[R_Head]

Solar Panels are not that efficient, about 25% as best with current tech.

Now, want to get rid of all snow plows? Come out with a flying personal vehicle that defies gravity.

That looks to me like a scam to suck up Gov funding for the so called "Green Energy". I wonder why some people calls them "Renewable"? The energy always come from somewhere, it does not pop out of nowhere, is always transformed. Ah... just a Buzzword to sell you some agenda, "newspeak" perhaps?