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Potential last nail in Petroconomy's coffin

Started by P3nT4gR4m, May 26, 2014, 12:51:04 PM

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P3nT4gR4m

Was just talking to a mate, at the weekend, about how solar was almost ready to destroy the oil economy. Come back home and find this. I'd seen a meme on facebook and thought it was some kind of photoshop wind up. Turns out team america might be on verge of actually saving the world this time. America! Fuck yeah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTA3rnpgzU#t=389

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
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walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Reginald Ret

Lord Byron: "Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves."

Nigel saying the wisest words ever uttered: "It's just a suffix."

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MMIX

Quote from: Regret on May 26, 2014, 01:29:33 PM
That has potential.
I remain skeptical.
my emphasis

Not that I think you are necessarily wrong, but why?
"The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something we make and could just as easily make differently" David Graeber

P3nT4gR4m

I'm skeptical about everything.

I temper this with a best-guess at the potential of a given phenomena to manifest in more or less predictable form.

When I say this has potential, that's where I'm coming from. Level of certainty, timescales, cost, etc. All those are fairly fluid, while I'm hooked into monitoring progress.

One thing I'm more sceptical about - human civilisation existing as an organism, wholly dependent on a dwindling supply of dead old smushed up animals and plants to power their endeavours and being able to avoid the annihilation of their biosphere for much more than another handful of decades.

So it follows something has to happen. Either we all choke/freeze/melt in sulphur rain, or we revert to a pre technological society or some new kind of thing(s) come along and change the whole fucking landscape.

I discount the first two as hardly worth wasting time thinking about. Death faces me anyway and pre-tech would simply be how I spend my weekends until I couldn't hack it anymore and die. What I'm left with is waiting to see if some new idea comes along and saves the day and kills the baddies.

As far as potential new things goes, this sounds like one of the best ideas I've heard in a long while.

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞

The guy who narrated that video gets it. It's practical but also just intrinsically awesome.

They already met their goal of raising $1 million, but they have 6 days left: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/solar-roadways#home

Fuck yes!
P E R   A S P E R A   A D   A S T R A

Reginald Ret

Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on May 26, 2014, 03:49:22 PM
I'm skeptical about everything.

I temper this with a best-guess at the potential of a given phenomena to manifest in more or less predictable form.

When I say this has potential, that's where I'm coming from. Level of certainty, timescales, cost, etc. All those are fairly fluid, while I'm hooked into monitoring progress.

One thing I'm more sceptical about - human civilisation existing as an organism, wholly dependent on a dwindling supply of dead old smushed up animals and plants to power their endeavours and being able to avoid the annihilation of their biosphere for much more than another handful of decades.

So it follows something has to happen. Either we all choke/freeze/melt in sulphur rain, or we revert to a pre technological society or some new kind of thing(s) come along and change the whole fucking landscape.

I discount the first two as hardly worth wasting time thinking about. Death faces me anyway and pre-tech would simply be how I spend my weekends until I couldn't hack it anymore and die. What I'm left with is waiting to see if some new idea comes along and saves the day and kills the baddies.

As far as potential new things goes, this sounds like one of the best ideas I've heard in a long while.
As is quite often the case: You say what is on my mind and do so quite eloquently.
Lord Byron: "Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves."

Nigel saying the wisest words ever uttered: "It's just a suffix."

"The worst forum ever" "The most mediocre forum on the internet" "The dumbest forum on the internet" "The most retarded forum on the internet" "The lamest forum on the internet" "The coolest forum on the internet"

Junkenstein

My main thoughts go straight to durability issues. If they've got that covered this is pretty exciting.
Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

The Johnny


Yeah... and how much does each panel-hex cost? That's the fundamental question.
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

The Johnny


QuoteCost

The specific cost and power output of the panels have not been released by Solar Roadways, thus the lifetime costs have not been determined by independent sources. However, Solar Roadways reported in a Wired article that a commercialized solar roadway would provide enough power to offset the cost over its lifespan. [4]

Brad Plumer of Vox is critical about the feasibility of the technology because of the cost. He contends that back in 2010, the company assumed that a 12' by 12' glass panel would cost around $10,000. Using this figure, he estimated that covering the approximately 30,000 square miles (~836 billion square feet) of roads in the U.S. would cost $56 trillion - nearly 20 times the annual Federal budget. [5] As of 2014, Solar Roadways has a new design and they are recalculating costs.

:lulz: :lulz: :lulz: :lulz: :lulz: :lulz: :lulz: :lulz: :lulz:
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

Junkenstein

Anyone want to do the calc on how long that would take for a small car park to pay for itself? I'm guessing centuries so that durability issue really better be fixed.

Right idea, wrong design.
Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

The Johnny

Quote from: Junkenstein on May 27, 2014, 12:10:28 AM
Anyone want to do the calc on how long that would take for a small car park to pay for itself? I'm guessing centuries so that durability issue really better be fixed.

Right idea, wrong design.

You get 141 hex-panels for the cost of 1 cruise missile.  :fnord:
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

Pæs

That seems an absurd price for what each panel is. I'm curious whether each panel needs to be as intelligent as the next. Surely a leader/follower relationship would let them have smart panels controlling the comparatively dumb panels around them without any loss of functionality?

Nephew Twiddleton

I'm ok with not being skeptical, and not being practical in this area. Humanity does its best work when it says, "fuck it, sky's the limit"

This got funded. That in and of itself is important. People are willing to throw down dough to fix the problem. This specific project might not pan out but it's a step in the right direction. Because it shows that the public is interested, and it shows the government that the public is interested.
Strange and Terrible Organ Laminator of Yesterday's Heavy Scene
Sentence or sentence fragment pending

Soy El Vaquero Peludo de Oro

TIM AM I, PRIMARY OF THE EXTRA-ATMOSPHERIC SIMIANS

Nephew Twiddleton

Most importantly, it shows that it is profitable to fix the problem.
Strange and Terrible Organ Laminator of Yesterday's Heavy Scene
Sentence or sentence fragment pending

Soy El Vaquero Peludo de Oro

TIM AM I, PRIMARY OF THE EXTRA-ATMOSPHERIC SIMIANS

trix

#14
Thanks for showing me this, I spent half the day researching it and it's very interesting.

The FAQ on the website answers almost all of the concerns I had about it, including many that were mentioned ITT.  Specifically, the bit that explained how they did impact testing and how it fares in comparison to asphalt, and lots about other potential issues.  The only thing that wasn't really covered was price, but I think that the $10,000 estimate you quoted might have come from the $10k donation rank on the indiegogo campain giving the donater a full size unit, which ignores that the majority of the donation is funding the project, not the one single unit.  Plus there's economy of scale and all.  I'll save my speculation about costs until they say something official, but I think a gradual rollout as aging roads need work anyway could mitigate the cost a lot regardless.

I really like how Twid said it, it being profitable is the way it gets done, and I for one welcome our new solar hexagon overlords.

Also anyone consider that with its ability to sense weight and thus position and velocity of cars, the road will not only know if you are speeding, it could tell if you sucked horribly at driving and/or are drunk or drugged.  It could also track the path(s) of pretty much anyone for the duration they or their vehicle were traveling on solar freakin' roadways.

But the sheer amount of lives it would save, from lack of snow and ice, improved traction compared to asphalt, and LED-lit roads at night warning of animals or children or idiots in the roadway ahead, could be worth having to actually drive the speed limit and the NSA knowing where I drove yesterday, without having to read my texts to find out.
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