Dang Hippies Actually Built Road With Solar Panels

Traffic congestion will stop those solar panels ever seeing any sun light

There is nothing inherently bad about the manufacture of solar panels. They are like any other product. If you use energy from coal fired power plants that have no emission controls and dump all the toxic waste in the local drinking water reservoir, the solar panels you make are bad for the environment. But, if the power comes from natural gas or wind energy and the manufacturing facility is LEED certified, the solar panels you make will generally cover their carbon footprint in about 5-7 years of use and will be hands down better for the environment than fossil fuels.

With the tremendous price reduction in solar and surging demand from China and India for solar panels to replace coal fired power plants that are choking major cities with smog, the role of solar in energy production in the future is going to grown exponentially.

Wise One wrote:

That's even stupider than a road made out of Solar panels. Suck the energy from the moving vehicles/runners by making the surface deform underneath you. Gotta be free energy right like a perpetual motion machine, right? Why do all the quacks work in "green" energy. Have they never taken a thermodynamics course?

Fools like you believe oil-based roads (known as asphalt) are perpetually renewable.

Free Oil wrote:

Wise One wrote:

That's even stupider than a road made out of Solar panels. Suck the energy from the moving vehicles/runners by making the surface deform underneath you. Gotta be free energy right like a perpetual motion machine, right? Why do all the quacks work in "green" energy. Have they never taken a thermodynamics course?

Fools like you believe oil-based roads (known as asphalt) are perpetually renewable.

Asphalt roads are for all practical purposes perpetually renewable. Asphalt is made up of rocks and tar and is one of the most recycled materials in the world because you can just reprocess it.

On the other hand, Solar panels are made up of toxic elements and chemicals in them and from their manufacturing process. These toxic chemicals and elements are not renewable and way worse for the environment.

I'm studying material science at the university of Wisconsin, so please trust my words over these pseudoscientific quacks.

There are many compounds that can be made into solar panels. I won't get into why but they are usually semiconductors and besides the type of semiconductor the processing of the cell makes a difference.

They are toxic. Quite toxic. But not nuclear waste toxic. I think the metals within them are well contained, and in small quantities. They are also solids with high melting points and not a great propensity to dissolve if certain thermodynamic factors are considered.

All in all this is a stupid idea though. The biggest problem with solar panels is their cost, because they ultimately don't cost that much less than natural gas. This difference is created by efficiency and durability. These solar panels will go into disrepair very quickly, and the tracking of mud into the highway will reduce their efficiency by a lot during rainier seasons. Good luck creating a glass that can endure that kind of abuse.

Piezoelectric materials are also the future.

Go badgers.

Goodly Wiggins wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

Maybe it will wear out and they will have to put more solar panels in? Why didn't they think of that.

Solar panels are getting pretty cheap. They're made almost entirely of silicon.

They repaved asphalt roads...constantly. Of course, a fool like you, never noticed.

Snow plows will rip that up reel gud, git r done, gal durn hippies.

Heyo wrote:

Piezoelectric materials are also the future.

Go badgers.

You are a quack.

Precious Roy wrote:

the role of solar in energy production in the future is going to grown exponentially.

but your expression of this has me groaning.

You're clearly a close minded simpleton, who probably voted for Trump. Go read a book.

Precious Roy wrote:

There is nothing inherently bad about the manufacture of solar panels. They are like any other product. If you use energy from coal fired power plants that have no emission controls and dump all the toxic waste in the local drinking water reservoir, the solar panels you make are bad for the environment. But, if the power comes from natural gas or wind energy and the manufacturing facility is LEED certified, the solar panels you make will generally cover their carbon footprint in about 5-7 years of use and will be hands down better for the environment than fossil fuels.

With the tremendous price reduction in solar and surging demand from China and India for solar panels to replace coal fired power plants that are choking major cities with smog, the role of solar in energy production in the future is going to grown exponentially.

Tired or knuckle draggers wrote:

You're clearly a close minded simpleton, who probably voted for Trump. Go read a book.

You are probably a hippie who doesn't know think of whether he should really construct a road out of Solar panels or if it is a bad idea like trying to invade Afghanistan. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

So "Wise One"...right, explain to us why we shouldn't look into this as an option.

Let me ask you this, do you believe in climate change?

Really, you need explanation why a road built with Solar panels is a horrifically bad idea? Let's start with the simple fact that just the cost of building this Solar pavement road is TWO ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE more costly than a regular road and it will never, ever, even remotely make back any money. And that's not even factoring in the costly cleaning and repairs that will keep this road shut down. A Solar road is even more irresponsible than the multi trillion dollar Afghanistan war.

And then there is the problem of dirt and trigonometry. Do you even know the meaning off angle of incidence and the concept of transmittance?

There many more problem to list for an idiotic Solar road. I'm surprised there is someone dumb enough to believe this "green" horse crap.

Climate change? I welcome it. I need to get of winter. Shouldn't that make you happy? Solar panels can't work in the snow.

I hope you shoot yourself with your own gun in the near future.