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Great idea, so long as you completely ignore all economic considerations and costs. It would probably be cheaper to build and maintain a heat exchanger on the surface of the sun with 92 million mile power cable back to earth.

I figure you just need something like the Icarus satellite in Die Another Day.

I had more or less this idea like this 15 to 20 years ago, though I didn't add the solar panel aspect until about 10 years ago, and kinetic energy soon after the solar aspect. I wanted to make roads out of a strong plastic with lights for the edge lines. There would be quick swap panels to make it quick and easy to fix broken sections.

The issues I figured would be making them strong enough and cheap enough. Never carried the idea past my head. My main goal initially was to make edge lines easier to see at night in the rain, the idea went from lite up edges to why not make the whole road out of a plastic, and add groves to help water fall to sides better than conventional roadways. Then I eventually thought, why not make all that surface useful and make them capture solar as well, and eventually decided that since each panel is suspended on the base anyhow, why not capture the kinetic energy of the traffic pushing down on it and springing back up (was never sure if the limited motion that you could safely allow on a freeway would be enough to harness or not). I figured it would be too expensive and eventually decided the better solution would be to bury roads and make them all tunnels then turn the overhead areas (where the freeways are now) into green ways with solar roof collection areas as well, or just put roofs over the freeways and skip the green way effect... regular roads would still be the panel type... nice to see I was onto an idea anyhow.

http://videosift.com/video/Solar-Highways

Little bit more info

knew I had seen it before.

awesome idea though. This is precisely the kind of thing that we need.

I say we genetically engineer ourselves to be phototrophs. A bonus would be the thick cellulose that could serve to protect us. Sure it'd be harder to move, but we could adjust.

Honestly though, this idea is silly, why not just have panels that run parallel to the roadways? That way no roadway has to be closed down for replacement and the material engineering nightmare of creating a high-friction, transparent, strong material won't exist.

@rottenseed
"silly" is kinda subjective.
the lightbulb wasn't an extension of the candle, it was a completely different approach.
To find a different approach, you are always treading against the norm.

I think what makes this idea somewhat attractive is that the roadways already exist, they are typically unshaded, and they are always being closed for maintenance as it is.

the over-arching question as usual is whether or not you would use more energy in production than you would recoup in use, over the long-term, calculating in maintenance costs.

You're fucking high.

The "over-arching" question is "why would you double up the roadway as a solar-powered generator?" It doesn't make sense, you'd spend just as much time running this solar panels parallel to the roadways.

This idea is impractical as it was the FIRST time I saw this on the sift...

I call shenanigans.
Let's do some math...
5 billion panels at approximately $10K each at (far less than) today's prices for regular home panels which may be as low as $500 each when on sale, purchased in bulk, and discontinued models (note his panels are 12'x12', which is approximately 15-20 normal size panels spliced together) This means JUST the panels for his idea would cost over $50 TRILLION (at the insane discount price I described). This does not include instalation (labor and hardware), inverters, wireing, transmission, super-glass coating, heater, LED setup, .... All this is usually at least 2/3 -3/4 the cost of a solar system without super-glass, so lets be stupidly kind again and say his system can be put together at the same cost per watt as a cheap home system (which is insanity, it would cost 10 times that per watt or per square foot at least, probably more like 100 times with the super glass), that comes to >$150 TRILLION. Then you need to completely redesign cars (even the already electrics) to capture and use the electricity, another huge, ignored cost of this system. Just an educated guess, it seems like a realistic number for this entire nation wide system would likely be well over $3000Trillion. Get real.
Also, in what world are most roadways not shaded, it's not the one I live in.
And I guess we won't be driving at night anymore, or should we spend another $100-$1000 trillion to line the roadways with batteries?
They answer the comment 'you'll just slip off when it's wet' with 'it's nearly as stong as steel'. ? Perhaps they think sliding off the road is fine, I don't.
They imply they think they're system is cheaper than asphalt, or soon will be. That's just plain wrong under the best (or worst) of circumstances.
The entire 'pressure plate' idea is just stupid, it ignores the energy used to push the plate down, which is the same as constantly climbing a steep hill, or really more like constantly driving up stairs.
Get your broom people.

the road shoulders aren't as consistent as the roads themselves in structure/ quality, or space. This variability would lead to higher implementation and design costs.

dude you're sooo right. pass the bong.

Wont work at high latitudes because of weak sunlight and snowplows.

The most consistent thing about the roads themselves is that there are cars on them. More so with parking lots. The Gas Station had way more than enough roof area to cover it's electricity usage, no need for putting panels underneath parked cars.

A light coat of dust on panels can decrease their efficiency by up to 50%... there would have to be a CONSTANT fleet of road washers, slowing down traffic. At least with roof/road mounted panels they can be tilted to shed most of the dust/pollen that accumulates, though they do have to be washed monthly.

And then there's the question of what happens with accidents. Sure, the tensile strength might be as strong as steel, but it's because of the enormous pressure it's under. it only takes one flaw in the surface to make the glass susceptible to shattering... just the thing to make car accidents more hazardous.

Listen, if gets government funding, then you know it's dumb. Case closed.

What about tire rubber and other dirt sticking to the surface (if you can even find a material that is able to provide the traction in snow, rain and dry weather, like current pavement does)?
Would prolly be a nice idea if we had hovering cars, though.

And yeah of course they want this to happen. Imagine your own firm that will replace the whole roads in America and prolly other parts of the world. Those guys would be Bazillionaires in no time.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

I like all of the science fiction aspects of this - but I kind of agree that it seems like a solution to a problem that is more complicated than it needs to be.

I think this'll have to wait until there's some kind of photovoltaic/thermovoltaic asphalt or other wearable textured surface that is cheap to lay down. I'm all for solar roadways but yes I agree the engineering requirements of this concept are a bit out there.

yes i'm not saying the roads are consistent, only more consistent than the shoulders.
Roads are generally no less than the width of 2 cars. Some consistency cuts manufacturing costs which will eventually be a factor in EOREI (energy returned on energy invested). Can it work....uhhh dunno. Many roads are created sectionally as it is. which is good. but yeah i have to worry about chains, rocks, studded tires....
Legally you wouldn't have any "takings" issues.

But IMHO, most technical solutions are further away than the more immediate solution - education, family planning, and worldwide contraception programs. the real problem is that there are too many people on the planet. We are consuming more of the ecosystem than we replenish. we need to USE less, but that necessarily means less people...which = more resources available per person, and less emissions.
Meanwhile keep working on the tech side to create efficiency.
Conceptually however, it is interesting to look at roads in energetic terms. They do produce all sorts of heat (and friction) and kinetic energy.

Solar FREAKIN' Roadways! has been added as a related post - related requested by xxovercastxx on that post.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'solar panels, heating element, sidewalks, roads, parking lots, energy, sun' to 'solar panels, heating element, sidewalks, roads, parking lots, energy, solar roadways' - edited by xxovercastxx