World's first solar road exceeds expectations.

[DetlefK]

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/11/3657220/solaroad-producing-energy/

Excerpt:
"The road, which opened in the Netherlands in November of last year, has produced more than 3,000 kilowatt-hours of energy — enough to power a single household for one year, according to Al-Jazeera America.

“If we translate this to an annual yield, we expect more than the 70kwh per square meter per year,” Sten de Wit, a spokesman for the project — dubbed SolaRoad — told Al Jazeera America. “We predicted [this] as an upper limit in the laboratory stage. We can therefore conclude that it was a successful first half year.”

De Wit said in a statement that he didn’t “expect a yield as high as this so quickly.”

The 230-foot stretch of road, which is embedded with solar cells that are protected by two layers of safety glass, is built for bike traffic, a use that reflects the road’s environmentally-friendly message and the cycling-heavy culture of the Netherlands. However, the road could withstand heavier traffic if needed, according to one of the project’s developers.

So far, about 150,000 cyclists have ridden over the road. Arian de Bondt, director of Ooms Civiel, one of the companies working on the project, said that the developers were working on developing solar panels that could withstand large buses and vehicles."



-------------------------------
Imagine a major public area, a large square in a city. This road is about 230*5=1150 feet^2, that's approximately a square of 34 by 34 feet. You can't tell me that we don't have the place to put this in many more places.

[Human101948]

1. The Koch brothers will fight it tooth and nail...

Might put a dent in their billions of profits.

[stonecutter357]

2. K&R!

[PADemD]

3. This is what is also needed on our superhighways

STUDENT DESIGN TURNS HIGHWAYS INTO WIND FARMS

http://inhabitat.com/student-designs-highway-power/

[Treant]

10. Not a great idea

I mean, if you want to put up wind turbines along highways or on medians on nice, tall posts, go ahead.

But the concept of harvesting wind power from moving cars is not a good idea. Can you do it? Yes. How does it work? You're increasing the drag on the car, forcing it to burn more gas to maintain speed.

Since cars aren't the most environmentally sound power generation stations, you just generate more waste.

[DFW]

4. Al Gore calculated it out a few years ago

He said that a bank of solar panels ten miles square (i.e. 100 square miles) out in the desert somewhere could provide close to 100% of the electricity needs of the USA. I don't even know if there are enough of the rare earth materials out there to build such a bank of panels, but in theory it could be done.

If you've never been to the Netherlands, or just been on the highways there, you can't imagine the bicycle culture they have. They are THE means of getting around in that country. "Fietsen, (pronounced FEET-suh)" or going by bicycle, gives you the right of way just about anywhere where there's solid ground in NL.

[DetlefK]

5. You won't need rare-earth-metals.

OPVs (organic photovoltaics) are layers of metal and organic or metallo-organic molecules, sandwiched between two glass-foils. They are cheaper than solid-state photovoltaics (and bendable), but the efficiency is lower. The main point of research right now is testing various combinations of chemicals that will increase the efficiency.

[RoccoR5955]

6. Bikes are EVERYWHERE in the Netherlands.

The country is flat as a pancake, and bicycling is actually considered a major means of transportation. There are twice as many bicycles as people in the Netherlands.
To me, this is not unexpected.
Dutch seem to have this kind of ingenuity that I have not seen in others.
They also have solar illuminated road stripes that they were testing last year.
One day in the next few years, I hope to emigrate there, as the people are much more liberal than the folks here, and from what I have seen are ahead of us in the US in many ways.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. More of an Energy/Environment post. nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Read Heinlein's "The Roads Must Roll", written 75 yr ago about solar powered highways. nt

[thecrow]

9. A couple years ago, I read something - I think it was here on DU...

...about an American couple who were looking for money to develop their "solar tiles" ,
made of glass, which fit together like a puzzle, and into which lane lines, even emergency messages could be programmed.
They could be used for parking lots also. They had been granted I think it was $500,000 toward development, and were
looking for further funding.
I wonder if this is the same or simlar project....?
Anyway, it shows that creative people are trying to invent a new way to provide humankind with healthy forms of producing energy
I will have to try to find that other article!
This is fantastic news!

Here is a link to what I read about in 2014: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=o6JSVYe8CZDlsASs1YCoDA&url=http://singularityhub.com/2014/05/22/following-the-solar-brick-road-to-clean-energy-and-smart-roadways/&ved=0CEQQFjAK&usg=AFQjCNGhDIYOoymYkmMq22WFkC9mVQWRMg