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(51) comments
We have not been with it for years…image the employment,energy,funds for our government issues and cleaner haha less power bills
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Suerb, then all we need is to induct some of that power into electric cars and trucks as they drive along- ditching fossil fuelsand eliminating (or reducing ) need to re-charge.
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I’m not sure roads are a very good place to put solar panels. Solar panels are rather delicate so I suspect they will get damaged easily by having heavy trucks rolling over them. Also solar panels benefit from being kept clean and roads tend to be dirty. And solar panels benefit from being angled towards the sun which they can’t be if they are flat on the road. Wouldn’t it make more sense to put the solar panels beside the road, on the north side of the road, about the height of road signs, angled towards the sun?
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I’m sure the research has been done and the engineering accounted for to make this happen. Why would France invest the resources to put it in place if it were only going to last for the short term? Have faith that they know what they’re doing 🙂
Reply Your faith in government is touching Annie but governments often spend money on public projects because it benefits certain people in government and those that support those members of the government. It is everyone’s responsibility to be skeptical of government spending to ensure tax money is spent in the most wise way.
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Carl Gable Watts Your condescension is touching, too. Believe me, I am the greatest skeptic of government-anything. Please don’t make assumptions.
Reply I read about the current state of development on the SolarRoadWays website. They have just begun serious testing of the product idea. I still think it would work much better to have the solar panels on the side of the road.
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Love it. Wonder when the Americans are going to decide that oil is a dinosaur that is not worth feeding anymore
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TAKE NOTE, MEMBERS OF THE UK GOVERNMENT. ABUT TIME YOU FOCUSSED ON DOING SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE FOR THE COUNTRY INSTEAD OF PUTTING PUBLIC MONEY INTO REFURBISHING PALACES – AND IF PRIVATISATION IS SUCH A POWERFUL COMMERCIAL PROPOSITION, WHY IS THE PROVISION OF PALACES NOT PRIVATISED ANYWAY? THERE WOULD BE A GOOD CASH INPUT INSTEAD OF WASTE OF PUBLIC CAPITAL!
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is one and a half year old article, realised it because now other minister of energy and ecology (M. Hulot). France has other government, Not that thisone will not work in favor of green energy, but might be other projects than this one
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Trying to keep the islamic barbarians from blowing up what they already have, would be job one, right now.
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What is with the hard on people get with “solar freaking roadways”. Whats wrong with car parks, rooftops, out in the middle of nowhere where you can angle and have them track the sun properly.
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With so many solar projects, will we do once we soak up the sun? …Odd and even rationing? 😀
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Menos mal que los colombianos no necesitamos usar enrgía solar activa, tenemos energía producida por hidroeléctricas, mas barata y mucho menos contaminante.
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I believe a portion of Route 66 is working in installing these. Anyone drive it recently?
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The U.S. is glaringly behind. We are bound and gagged to coal and oil by the billionaires who buy our Congressmen. It makes us look stupid, when these countries are blowing us away with their intelligence. They realize clean, renewable energy is the best way to save the earth and create jobs.
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I have solar power. I have studied it for 20 years. Solar roads would eliminate the need for coal snd oil. The U.S. has got to educate themselves. Our people are woefully ignorant.
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Solar is just as competitive as grid power but it requires maintenance that most people won’t understand or have the ability to do. It needs to be cheaper, batteries need to last longer.
Reply Agreed, Dale Vorenkamp. Also, remember, there was a time no one knew how to mine coal, or work on a plaform out in the ocean. I think I’d rather learn a solar job.
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Lol i dont think you understamd the stresses and maintenance involved with roadways…. Or the inherent needs for roadways that will destroy the efficiency of the panels
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nope, you have no clue what you are talking about when it comes to using panels on roadways. I live in NY… the FIRST time a snow plow goes out? Kiss MILLIONS of dollars goodbye. Have you ever even looked closely at roadway surfaces? They are absolutely destroyed by vehicles… solar roads would NOT eliminate the need for coal and oil. lmfao.
Solar on your roof? Sure… road? NOPE!
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The first demonstration one in the US stopped working properly straight away, and then caught fire within two weeks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P90Y71ThfQs Even if they did work properly, they’re not aligned with the sun, use much more material than a standard or thin-film panel, would get covered with road dirt, would be hell to maintain, and make zero power at night and not much in winter.
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Great plan how about north east states that get a winter pounding from heavy trucks and snow plows, U.S. roads aren’t as thick as in the U.K.
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Doesn’t work at night, if any stored power is left after melting a foot of heavy packed snow, Sunlight won’t get through snow and ice.
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I wish this country was investing more in solar and energy effeciency, we might get left in the dark someday
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I like where france is heading.. is it all the doing of the new young president ?
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