Solar panels that you can drive, park, and walk on. They melt snow and... cut greenhouse gases by 75-percent?!!! It's the roadway of the future! Feel inspired? if you want to support this project or know some more of the detials visit this website: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/solar-roadways#home

I saw a video of this!! It looks amazing, but if they're going to replace all the gravel and concrete, that's going to take years to even start the whole thing.

yeah, but its better than nothing.

Costs...can we afford it? It's made out of recyclable materials but getting the gravel out which means more roadwork and electricians installing things.

>>5 I doubt it would exist anywhere other than major cities. It would also have to be a major project spanning decades to implement. As for cost, it would probably be funded by the gov'ts of each country and/or city installing it.

It'd be cheaper and easier to instead of replacing roads, have it like a tunnel over roads.

IE, these so called tunnels are all solar panels, and thus you keep your existing roads, minimizing the cost.

Bumping because I've only just now learned of this: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTA3rnpgzU


I've already made my donation; your turn Dollars!

A clean way for America to produce 3x more energy than it consumes, and it lasts for billions of years?

What's the downside people?

>it lasts for billions of years
???

Just looking up the longevity of solar panels I have thoughts about this not living up to the hype. First off if cars drive on them then a thick covering is required, which reduces the electricity produced. Also maintenance would be more than that of any of the pre existing roads since it would have to always be waterproof, to prevent shorts, and clean, so the panels are exposed to light.

This sounds like a great idea, but in reality it might cost more money than it is worth, due to more required maintenance than a regular asphalt road. I also live in Colorado where the roads are put through a lot of freezing and heating. Along with the recent flooding.

I think the main inhibitor would be the covers, since I don't think regular glass will cut it. It would have to be akin to a type of bulletproof grade glass, which is quite costly. I am all for this, I just think a new material should be used to cover these panels. Not all cars are perfect and will cause damage to the glass. Even natural disasters will destroy the panels. The street sweepers would have to work overtime for these roads to be efficient as well. Having dirt and debris over these panels would make them useless if no sunlight is ever reaching them.

Still a great idea though. I just think the main focus should lean more towards the covers, or casing, not the panels themselves. With the right casing the maintenance can be greatly reduced.