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During the day, when the sun shines the brightest the roads will have the most amount of traffic, shading the panels from the sun. Doesn't make sense to me. W

by giarc 11y ago

During the day, when the sun shines the brightest the roads will have the most amount of traffic, shading the panels from the sun. Doesn't make sense to me. Why not just spend this money and put solar panels on industrial buildings or state owned buildings?

WalterBright 11y ago
It's also effective to simply put a white coating on the rooftops. (Reflects energy back upwards instead of absorbing it.)
scriptproof 11y ago
There is a law to put solar panels or vegetation (to keep the heat) on roof of any new commercial building, starting in 2016.
tetraodonpuffer 11y ago
isn't the amount of traffic highest at commute times (dawn / dusk) and lowest, excluding night-time, at mid-day when available sunlight is highest?
Qwertious 11y ago
Most roads don't have much traffic - with a 3 second gap between each car and the cars going at 60KM/hr, the vast majority of the road will be open at any one time. And obviously, when the sun's high up the shadows will be the smallest. >Why not just spend this money and put solar panels on industrial buildings or state owned buildings? Proof of concept. Varying solar tech research to find unexpected gains. Maybe it turns out that putting solar panels on roads is actually extremely cost-effective, when you properly adapt the solar panels to road conditions?
- dheera 11y ago
  There is a lot more area coverage in roads than state-owned buildings. Convert all roads and you can easily power the entire country many times over. If the government is going to foot the bill and make solar power happen immediately, roads have the advantage that they are immediately available land for solar generation. Build solar off-road and you have to choose between a legal battle of evicting civilians from their private property, or destroying government-owned nature reserves. Convert roads and you conveniently dual-purpose existing land area while minimizing environmental impact.
  - lotharbot 11y ago
    > "There is a lot more area coverage in roads than state-owned buildings" and there's a lot more area coverage in state-owned buildings without solar than in state-owned buildings with solar, or that will get solar in a reasonable timeframe. It's not like we're running out of rooftops and need to find alternatives. Even if the government did manage to cover all of their rooftops, there's still plenty of residential rooftop area that can easily be converted with proper incentives. I'm pretty sure we can generate enough solar power to handle all of the needs that solar is suitable for before we come anywhere close to running out of rooftops. Even if I'm mistaken about how many open roofs there are and how much solar capacity they could handle, there are a lot of other and better options before you get to "put PV cells on the ground underneath semis".
  - brbsix 11y ago
    Even better, you can simply install conventional solar panels above existing roads.
jessedhillon 11y ago
Traffic is typically during commute hours, which are not peak sunlight hours at most latitudes.

by giarc 11y ago

WalterBright 11y ago

It's also effective to simply put a white coating on the rooftops. (Reflects energy back upwards instead of absorbing it.)

scriptproof 11y ago

There is a law to put solar panels or vegetation (to keep the heat) on roof of any new commercial building, starting in 2016.

tetraodonpuffer 11y ago

isn't the amount of traffic highest at commute times (dawn / dusk) and lowest, excluding night-time, at mid-day when available sunlight is highest?

Qwertious 11y ago

Most roads don't have much traffic - with a 3 second gap between each car and the cars going at 60KM/hr, the vast majority of the road will be open at any one time. And obviously, when the sun's high up the shadows will be the smallest. >Why not just spend this money and put solar panels on industrial buildings or state owned buildings? Proof of concept. Varying solar tech research to find unexpected gains. Maybe it turns out that putting solar panels on roads is actually extremely cost-effective, when you properly adapt the solar panels to road conditions?

dheera 11y ago
There is a lot more area coverage in roads than state-owned buildings. Convert all roads and you can easily power the entire country many times over. If the government is going to foot the bill and make solar power happen immediately, roads have the advantage that they are immediately available land for solar generation. Build solar off-road and you have to choose between a legal battle of evicting civilians from their private property, or destroying government-owned nature reserves. Convert roads and you conveniently dual-purpose existing land area while minimizing environmental impact.
- lotharbot 11y ago
  > "There is a lot more area coverage in roads than state-owned buildings" and there's a lot more area coverage in state-owned buildings without solar than in state-owned buildings with solar, or that will get solar in a reasonable timeframe. It's not like we're running out of rooftops and need to find alternatives. Even if the government did manage to cover all of their rooftops, there's still plenty of residential rooftop area that can easily be converted with proper incentives. I'm pretty sure we can generate enough solar power to handle all of the needs that solar is suitable for before we come anywhere close to running out of rooftops. Even if I'm mistaken about how many open roofs there are and how much solar capacity they could handle, there are a lot of other and better options before you get to "put PV cells on the ground underneath semis".
- brbsix 11y ago
  Even better, you can simply install conventional solar panels above existing roads.

jessedhillon 11y ago

Traffic is typically during commute hours, which are not peak sunlight hours at most latitudes.