Well ESB & Bord Gais, lets see you dig this up and make a mess of it

Owen

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/06/solar-roads-gets-small-doe-contract-confidence-to-change-the-wo/

Company in the states has been given funding to develop and install solar roads, transforming the road network into a solar grid pumping electricity into our homes and businesses. They could also theoretically have LED's installed, so if you're on a road with three lanes and each turns a different direction at the next junction, as soon as the traffic lights go green, they could create virtual white lines to make sure everyone stays in the correct lane - would be hugely useful on some of the roundabouts we have here in Cork where 2 lanes go into 4 and back into 3. They also have the capability to have catseyes installed which will powered by the road network itself.

Apparently, buck for buck, it's a little cheaper to make these than it is to lay tarmac. Test results would be interesting!

ChristyCent

Thats pretty crazy. Wouldnt it end up getting fairly dirty though?

L1011

I somehow can't see them being anywhere near as durable as asphalt concrete, so while it might be cheaper to lay once, they're going to need to be replaced over, and over, and over again during the 10-25 years an asphalt surface can last.

Owen

I think even if it does need to be replaced, because the road is generating electricity, it will be able to fund it's own replacement.

It could also be beneficial for electric cars, obviously solar isn't going to provide enough power to charge an electric car fully while driving, but it could be technically possible for the electric car to drop down some sort of power connector into the road to trickle charge while driving in order to minimise power loss over the longer journeys - like a scalectrix car.

JHMEG

Bituminous road surfaces, while cheap, require frequent re-laying/re-surfacing (hence Hitler built the autobahns from concrete)... in our case with bitumen from Nigeria.

Something like this might work in this country where the govt is allegedly trying to reposition us in the "green economy".

L1011

JHMEG wrote: »

Bituminous road surfaces, while cheap, require frequent re-laying/re-surfacing (hence Hitler built the autobahns from concrete)... in our case with bitumen from Nigeria.

Something like this might work in this country where the govt is allegedly trying to reposition us in the "green economy".

You're able to recycle asphalt these days however - obviously not much use when building entirely new roads, but come resurfacing time a lot less new bitumen is needed than before.

R.O.R

Seems like a good idea in theory, depends on durability and the ability to produce electricity when covered in the type of grime and dirt we get on the roads here.

Wonder what grip levels in the wet would be like though?