EEVblog #1050 - MORE Solar Roadways LOL

[EEVblog]

This is their explanation, it makes no sense? 

[Brumby]

It's a typical scenario.  It's a three step process.

1. The "emerging technology" fan boys are going to ignore all the Engineering "naysayers" as being close-minded.  The bandwagon of politics and popularity drives the roll-out.  Edit: The proponents of said tech will run any necessary smoke and mirrors necessary to allow the fan boys to maintain their ignorant enthusiasm.

2. The technology gets implemented to a demonstrable scale and, over time, becomes of less interest to those who like to shove things in the face of the establishment.  It may even become mainstream, in which case, the technology can become part of "the establishment" portfolio - and it's supporters will lose pretty much any active interest.

3. Then, one day, someone will look at the numbers, see how unimpressive it all was and wonder how the heck it scored so much funding.  The scandal of this waste will make for a good headline and the journalists will start ripping into everyone... but it won't matter.  The politicians who pushed it through will have moved on and the "developers" of the technology will have taken their cut.  All the press will do is say how bad the decision was ... and (maybe) ask "How did this rubbish get so far?"


... and we will just sit back and shake our heads.

[tszaboo]

And you wonder why we (the Dutch people) make so many jokes about Belgium. With these kind of examples you are not making it hard to come up with 'new material' 

BTW if you worry about (manufacturing) CO2 emissions from solar panels: according to IPCC data this is around 30grams/kWh.

I'm not Belgian, I just live here. I also have a critical voice for the way things go here, because I've seen better.

I question the entire solar roadway energy output. It has 3 times worse output than roof mounted. Roof mounted has about 7 years of ROI here. Asphalt road needs replacing about 10-15 year. Where is the ROI? If there is no ROI, no monetary benefit then what you achieve is:
-Higher costs for roads
-More tax for car owners
-Higher electricity price

[nctnico]

And you wonder why we (the Dutch people) make so many jokes about Belgium. With these kind of examples you are not making it hard to come up with 'new material' 

BTW if you worry about (manufacturing) CO2 emissions from solar panels: according to IPCC data this is around 30grams/kWh.

I'm not Belgian, I just live here. I also have a critical voice for the way things go here, because I've seen better.

I question the entire solar roadway energy output. It has 3 times worse output than roof mounted. Roof mounted has about 7 years of ROI here. Asphalt road needs replacing about 10-15 year. Where is the ROI? If there is no ROI, no monetary benefit then what you achieve is:
-Higher costs for roads
-More tax for car owners
-Higher electricity price

You have to ask Colas and/or the Chinese firm that have invested and installed their solar roadways. My estimate is that there is a ROI somewhere otherwise I'd expect they would not have taken these projects as far as they have.

Recently I read an article about economic forecasts saying energy prices will rise somewhat due to meeting CO2 reduction goals so don't rule out that part of the strategy relies on higher electricity prices in the future.

[james_s]

Of course there's a ROI, people like you believe it will work despite piles of data clearly showing it doesn't, and companies installing the roads are salivating over the massive tax dollars they can extract from the public to install these things.

[nctnico]

AFAIK it has been mentioned in this thread before as an option to put solar panels so I post it here. It is officially announced as a project in the NL: a floating solar farm in sea.

[Brumby]

In the North Sea?

[nctnico]

In the North Sea?

Yes.

[Brumby]

Hope they build it tough.

From what I understand, the North Sea isn't exactly kind to things that float.

[Fungus]

Hope they build it tough.

From what I understand, the North Sea isn't exactly kind to things that float.

I bet it could be done if each turbine floats individually and there's a decent gap between them.

Edit: Yep, that's what they're planning:


154 meter diameter rotor!


Let's see if they remember to put de-icers on the blades.

[nctnico]

Who is talking about wind turbines? They are going to put FLOATING SOLAR PANELS in the sea.
This kinda proves the point I made earlier on that it isn't trivial to find large amounts of contiguous surface area to put solar panels on in densily populated areas.

[james_s]

Yes but it's dead easy to find loads of places to put them that are far more practical and efficient than roads. This has been proven beyond any shadow of a doubt, both mathematically and through actual field trials. Solar roadways don't work, end of debate.

The floating panels on the water seem like a reasonably good idea. Space is plentiful, there isn't anything to shade them, there aren't going to be vehicles driving over them. I do wonder how well they'll cope with storm swells though.

[Brumby]

Hopefully that will wash off salt spray deposits....

[Fungus]

Who is talking about wind turbines? They are going to put FLOATING SOLAR PANELS in the sea.

Oh, sorry.

But still, same thing applies.