TEDxSacramento - Scott Brusaw - Solar Roadways (2of2)

[Bored00m]

tbh I don't see this being installed on all the roads, but maybe recessed into most of the intersections? it would still generate a lot of power imo

[ciceromatrix]

Great American

[wheresbicki]

Really ambitious project. Solar cells will get more cheaper. I feel like there could be a lot of silicon being used in this project, which isn't bad because it is abundant, but I wonder if it will be worth using roads worth of it.

[BBQPeanut]

@wheresbicki That isn't the only problem. We'd be building roads for a generation that may not need roads in the near future. There's no point building a structure to last 100 years if we plan on destroying it in 20.

[moremost]

Cool idea. Speaking of marketing: This idea has to be spread via Hollywood.

Imagine a big science-fiction blockbuster movie featuring and spreading this idea of solar roadways and solar parking lots (like RoboCop, Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, Total Recall, Minority Report or something similar to 'Back to the Future II'). THAT would be awesome.

[rprice33]

Nice idea. We have the ideas, intelligence, the resources, the manpower, but we're missing one thing....the money. Money (which is fake) is the one thing holding the entire human race back from living a symbiotic life with the Earth. Under the current monetary-based economy, this will never happen. Just putting utilities underground isn't even remotely affordable. Why not just go to mag-lev cars?

[Forgeable]

@rprice33 1.) Money is used as a easy transfer system, so you don't have to go barter for a new TV using pelts of the bear you just killed. 2.) the panels will cost 3 times more than concrete, but they are trying to make them last 3 times as long. Add that to all the money that will be saved because of solar, and medical bills because of crashes with utility poles.

[rprice33]

@Forgeable I understand the concept of money, thanks. Your comment #2 is nothing but supposition, which is the biggest problem with this idea in general. Why not just reconfigure cars with solar panels & lithium batteries, Doppler radar, gyroscopic steering, computerized braking, and GPS? We already have all of this technology. That would accomplish everything this guy is trying to do (and eliminate crashing into poles) without replacing every road and parking lot in the world.

[Forgeable]

@rprice33 your points are valid, but every road and parking lot with eventually have to be replaced, might as well make use of them while we can.

[JosephKrammer]

All you people do is puke random negative comments. Someday you'll wish this project would have been implemented.

[zaco21]

About the traffic, the more cars there are on the road the less energy it produces!

[zaco21]

What if the traffic is really high?The British call them potholes, how dangerous will it be to cross a pothole on the solar highway if it hasn't been repaired? The angle to obtain solar energy is one of the worst. It will be able to produce only 3 hours a day the maximum quantity of energy in the best case scenario! There are a lot of problems! Let's not forget about rain and delivering the energy!

[zaco21]

Problem! There is also a bitumen replacement that shows promise! It will be cheaper to use new asphalt mixture with plant oil than make these road solar panels. In fact it will be cheaper to use plant oil based asphalt and make solar energy farms to produce electricity!

[dickylobster]

Food for thought: My electric car should be able to run on your electric road/turnpike, just like a toll road, take a ticket, drive on your road and use your electricty, pay when I get off your road/turnpike. I could also recharge my own batteries while I drive on your PayAsUGo road.

[Abbell94]

I really wish this project sucess

[Zeuts85]

This needs more views! Put it in your favorites! Send it to friends! Let's get it going folks!

[skyeyeclan]

TVA, has an arrangement where they will pay their customers for excess power that is delivered back to the grid from Solar Power cells that you pay for and install on your land. They will pay a customer for up to 10 years on the current value and rate of the Kilowatt. This is a better solution to Nuclear and a Thee answer to Coal and coal ash. I am glad to say that Scott is a true visionary and fits in the same hole as Steve Jobs. 

I hope to have this for my driveway.

God Bless

[zaco21]

@skyeyeclan He is not a visionary! He is an inventor, but nothing more! This project has many flaws! Cheap plant based replacements for asphalt will make this project not worth the money!

[ferickson]

We are living in times when having the obvious solution to a problem isn't enough. There will be many opponents to this project - many were elected to Congress 2 days ago - climate change deniers - those who deny government can do anything right. This project needs government to push it forward - to set the standards - just like the railroads a century ago and the federal highway system 60 years ago. I hope you succeed. Scott Brusaw for Secretary of Energy!

[mquiroz90]

WE ARE THE FUTURE!!!!!!!

[lillianed]

Lets do it!

[mquiroz90]

@lillianed the future is now!

[Leobumbum]

You gonna succeed.

[mquiroz90]

@Leobumbum the future is now