Author Topic: crowfunding similar to solar roadways  (Read 4244 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline HolisterTopic starter

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 2
  • Country: cl
crowfunding similar to solar roadways
« on: November 15, 2016, 03:14:06 pm »
Hi, I have seen your videos of the solar roadways and I think this campaign https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/let-s-lightup-africa-power-of-footsteps-the-sun-solar-technology  is very similar to what was presented in that campaign.

Is it possible the community can analyze this new crowfunding from a technical perspective?

I think that piezo-electric systems do not give much current when activated, but I do not know the technical specifications.

Thank you.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2016, 12:57:00 pm by Holister »
 

Offline ericloewe

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 85
  • Country: pt
Re: crowfunding similar to solar roadways
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2016, 09:35:17 pm »
tl;dr - walking on those surfaces requires more energy.

Next snake oil question.
 

Offline Gavin Melville

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 28
Re: crowfunding similar to solar roadways
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2016, 06:24:14 pm »
http://luxreview.com/article/2016/11/meet-the-streetlights-that-are-powered-by-footsteps

Hmmmmmmm.  5 watts per step.  Imagine what a pair of shoes could do....
 

Offline wraper

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 16763
  • Country: lv
Re: crowfunding similar to solar roadways
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2016, 06:32:38 pm »
Quote
Pavegen claims that each pedestrian generates an average of five watts per footstep.
I don't see how this could be a valid claim. Watt is power, not a unit of energy. Therefore without saying for how long time, this does not provide any information. Staying on the tile cannot produce any constant energy as well.
 

Online The Soulman

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 948
  • Country: nl
  • The sky is the limit!
Re: crowfunding similar to solar roadways
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2016, 07:38:50 pm »
Ah yes, they must have meant 5 Watt WLS.


When Lightning Strikes!  :-+
 

Offline Inflex

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 166
  • Country: au
    • Charters Towers Phone & Computer Repairs
Re: crowfunding similar to solar roadways
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2017, 03:36:56 pm »
Using beloved 1990's audio nonclementure ,  "5W PMPO"

Garden solar lights probably would convert & retain more sitting at the side of the pavement.
Magicsmoke abuser | What I repair daily on YouTube | FlexBV
- BoardView
| Paul Daniels
 

Offline tpowell1830

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 863
  • Country: us
  • Peacefully retired from industry, active in life
Re: crowfunding similar to solar roadways
« Reply #6 on: January 02, 2017, 03:46:18 pm »
 :palm:

PEACE===>T
PEACE===>T
 

Offline jonovid

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1417
  • Country: au
    • JONOVID
Re: crowfunding similar to solar roadways
« Reply #7 on: January 02, 2017, 03:53:36 pm »
Quote
Hmmmmmmm.  5 watts per step.  Imagine what a pair of shoes could do....


Hobbyist with a basic knowledge of electronics
 

Offline edy

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2385
  • Country: ca
    • DevHackMod Channel
Re: crowfunding similar to solar roadways
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2017, 02:48:12 am »
If it's on IndieGogo.... well.... enough said.  :-DD  And they want $300,000?  :wtf:   Notice it is flexible goal which means they keep the money even if never reaching it. As far as their campaign goes... I'm not sure what they are trying to do. Install smart street lights (those solar-powered street lamps with USB chargers) and add some kind of piezo component to the ground next to the light to collect a few more electrons?  :palm:

The lamps seem like a decent enough idea. I believe they could do the trick. Collect sunlight all day, charge up a battery, then use an LED array lamp to illuminate at night. Any extra juice can also power any USB devices plugged in. Ok, sounds fine there. But the piezo-sidewalk elements are a gimmick, I don't think they would do anything comparable to the solar panel.

So they want to install 10 of these in Africa.... at $30,000 a piece. And provide WiFi. I don't know..., sounds like the money could be put to better use. For example, give everyone one of those emergency rechargeable hand-crank radios with a solar panel and USB output to charge phones. At bulk, you could maybe get something decent for $50 a pop? For $300,000 you'd get 6000 of these. You would help way more people than just 10 locations.

Better yet.... design your own radio that would be about $50 normally (or rebrand some Chinese OEM), set up a KICKSTARTER and charge $100 to each buyer, but say in your campaign that it is buy 1 donate 1... so actually when you contribute $100, the Backer actually gets a radio for themselves, and another radio gets donated to Africa (to justify the higher price). You could probably get that $50 retail radio made for $20 if you order enough (say 15,000 pieces)... that's $300,000... and give 7500 backers their radios, and 7500 Africans their radios. Charge the 7500 backers about $100 each and you'll have $750,000, even turning out a decent profit.

If those dudes from Light-Phone can sell $20 GSM G2 obsolete card phones to people for $100, and raise over $400,000, then surely something like this campaign with "eco" and "poor" and "Africa" and "children" all over it could gain huge momentum from a crowd-funding campaign. But of course, just like solar-roadways and some of those other stupid projects out there, they aren't really designed to help the poor at all... Just a dumb make-work project for a bunch of rich start-ups looking to gain more investors.

« Last Edit: January 04, 2017, 02:51:08 am by edy »
YouTube: www.devhackmod.com LBRY: https://lbry.tv/@winegaming:b Bandcamp Music Link
"Ye cannae change the laws of physics, captain" - Scotty
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf