Solar Roads

Around 2007 there was a ton of hype about the greatest new path to Green Utopia: Solar Roads. Around 2007 there was a ton of hype about the greatest new path to Green Utopia: Solar Roads. Imagine if the roads were solar panels, producing more power than they consumed? You could capture all that wasted space for low-energy solar power, and it would be great. The detractors warned that it'd be a disaster. Guess who was right, progressives or cynics? ℹ️ Info           ~ Aristotle Sabouni Created: 2020-01-29

Around 2007 there was a ton of hype about the greatest new path to Green Utopia: Solar Roads. Imagine if the roads were solar panels, producing more power than they consumed? You could capture all that wasted space for low-energy solar power, and it would be great. The detractors warned that it'd be a disaster: too expensive, it would wear out, dirt would decrease efficiency, slick surface and roadways aren't a good mix, and a dozen other reasons it was a bad idea (theft, vandalism, etc). It was tried privately in small scale (like in Idaho) and was a disaster. But police states in Europe (France) and China, built a few larger scale one anyways, and they were exactly as the Greens denied and those with a clue warned, a bad fucking idea from the top to bottom. The point isn't that it was a good idea that didn't really work -- it was a bad idea that you couldn't reason with the left/Greens on, and they wasted many millions (or billions) trying to prove common sense wrong. Something to keep in mind when thinking about greens.

Solar Power

           Main article: Solar Power

Different "Solar Power" has different issues: centralized (big plant) or distributed (residential) solar power. But there's a lot of flim-flam in what the cost/benefits are. It is not as green as the proponents pretend, it wouldn't need subsidies if it was cheaper, and it has no reliability unless it has backup plants that aren't "Green". So I debunk some of the lies (exaggerations).

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Solar Power If solar worked well, you wouldn't need subsidies. There's a lot of flim-flam and cooking the books.

🔗 Links

France:

• https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a28720252/french-solar-road-failure/
• https://www.curbed.com/2019/7/25/8929870/france-solar-roadway-experiment-normandy

Idaho:

• https://dailycaller.com/2016/10/18/solar-road-has-total-and-epic-failure-as-83-of-its-panels-break-in-a-week/
• https://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/infrastructurist-on-solar-roadway-fail.html

China:

• https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a14783133/china-solar-road-theft/

General:

• https://interestingengineering.com/solar-roadways-engineering-failure
• https://jalopnik.com/why-the-solar-roadway-is-a-terrible-idea-1582519375

Tags: Solar