Topic: Holy Crap! *New Tech/Gadget Thread*

[Ceric]

just when Lucasfilm decided they will use less cg they perfect cg.

Too much CG ruins a movie for me (though Pacific Rim was a visual feast). I prefer practical effects (costumes, explosions, makeup, animatronics).

Fun Factoid:  The Cockpit for Pacific Rim (aka where you actually spend a lot of time) was a series of three story moving cockpits.  A practical effect.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Solar Roadways: Why aren't we making this happen sooner?

I understand that the oil companies need to make their money, and the power companies need to make their money, but there has to be a town out there that is willing to go 21st century.

Maybe these people can team up with Google and include driverless car sensors to help with that project, even adding in wireless charging for electric cars that don't need to charge as long as they are on the grid and then Google can lend massive resources, along with laying the Google Gigabit fiber cables insode the panels, and right into all homes and businesses that are on the grid, and they can both push this nation worldwide asap.

Internet access and speeds: Solved
Unrpredictable drivers/road rage: Solved
Massive oil/petroleum dependence: Solved
Energy independence and infrastructure rebuilding: Solved
Global Warming: solved

I see no downsides to this outside of cost, which as they state will eventually pay for itself, especially when we have all this excess electrical energy that we can start selling to those that aren't on this solar grid. Maintenance may be a bitch, but selling all that energy to our neighbors has got to be massively profitable. As long as have solved the traction issue (glass when wet.....) and the road cleaning (tire marks, chemical spills, etc etc) there are a lot of game changing things that could happen here.

Maybe start with a test neighborhood. I volunteer mine.
So much good can come out of this that I just know that politics will squash it.


edit: a more recent video address most of the points I brought up.

I'm glad they thought of it all and it's nearly ready for market. This is the type of innovation that we need in solar and power.


and with the changeable LED's and sensors and processors and all that, this would solve another issue I have. People that park all messed up. maybe informing them to pull forward, back up, or please stay within their designated lines. The future is so damn close, I want to live in it already.

[Ceric]

That looks awesome.  Shame its so far away.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I wish money and politics could always stop being the obstacle to progress.

Certain projects should get the blank check in the form of tax breaks and write off's for participating companies that "donate" their services and materials. Especially when it's something like this infrastructure project that we desperately need to do. This is Power, Communication & Travel all in one, but this project will never gain traction till some of the big conglomerates can figure out a way to neuter it, monetize the hell out of it, and then trickle it out, selling the government upgrades along the way just to keep lining their pockets for the forseeable future.

The government should just fund it, help develop it, and then claim imminent domain on all public roadways, utility lines, sewage ways, and then replace it all with this. Then subsidize electric cars that feed on the solar grid, get this whole project underway and hope to have the heavy metropolitan areas covered in this by 2040. For every energy job lost, I'm sure another tech road monitor/maintenance job will open.

We just need someone to come in and shut all the lobbying down, kill the politics, and just start getting some things done.... unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen without some major politicking or some crazy world threatening event that forces action.

[Ceric]

Ironically, Earmarks would help with this.

The argument to go is minor maintenance costs to the conduits.  Its expensive to put up power lines and maintain them.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Well, Obama was looking for a lucrative solar/renewable energy company to invest in... snatching this one up and making it the new Government Utility all-in-one provider/servicer seems like a good way to put your money where your mouth is.

He wanted to do a major infrastructure rehaul... well, here you go.
He wanted to find a renewable source of energy to break dependency on foreign oil and petroeum based products in general... well, here you go.
Everyone wants to validate that Tesla is on the right track. Hook them into the solar road grid and you never have to stop again, as long as you are on a solar road. (fine print - 250miles with full charge on regular road in ideal conditions)
Everyone wants Google to drop Gigbit fiber nationwide... well, here we go
Every car company is researching ways to make driverless cars a reality... well, here you go

EVERYONE wants to lower their electricity bill... well, damn, can't help with that one.
but selling off power to neighboring towns, cities, states, countries that aren't part of the grid, could subsidize the maintenance cost for being a part of the grid... until everyone is part of the grid. then I don't know what happens. maybe we find creative ways to store, release & use all of the suns excess energy.

[Ceric]

You and I both now that People in General would consider that too Socialist.

I would love to have charging roads, I drive a Leaf.  I've even talked with a few of the people looking into that stuff at Nissan US Headquarters when I was charging, I work in Franklin.  That would have been really handy when I was running everywhere on Monday for my Brain Doctor visit, its really hilly/mountainy here.

One of the big unsolved problem with this plan is Storage.  All that excess would need to be bled or stored.  Preferably stored for night.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Powerplants would now become storage battery plants.

energy usage would now not be a concern as it's practically free (outside of maintenance). You might start getting penalized for not using enough electricity (free airconditioning anyone.... **** yeah)

Water purification plants are not cost effective because they use too much energy. With all this extra energy we NEED to use (or lose) water shortages would also be a thing of the past. Northern Cali could keep all it's fresh mountain water run off and SoCal can start desalinating it's own salt water.
We will also be able to stop mining the earth for mineral salt as we will have an excess of sea salt to consume.

that's already another benefit of adapting this. I'm sure we can come up with plenty of ways to store and consume the extra.

[BranDonk Kong]

Word.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I bet stock in rechargeable batteries also goes up.


the other thing I forgot is that the price of solar panels will drop significantly the more popular something like this gets. Maybe the efficiency would go up too, Not that the road would really need it, but then you can bury those more efficient panels in the electric cars (glass tops?) and then they could somewhat recharge off the grid, making for longer "off-road" trips.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

BnM bypass the government altogether, this is a good idea then let's make it happen. I don't know much about how these kickstarte type things work but I know that the Internet has made getting the world out much easier these days. want to see this a reality, take it up as a cause, post this video everywhere you can, donate what you can to the fund, as much as you can get by with. Don't go all in as a big investor or anything but if you really believe in it set aside $25 a month to donate to the fund, get a few friends on board and get the ball rolling. I would gladly donate that amount to a private company that could make this happen before trusting the government to make it happen. It doesn't have to be done on a large scale all at once to get noticed, talk some small gas station and super market chains into putting these in their parking lots and maybe start there once the public becomes aware of it they will put the pressure on Uncle Sam, also there is a big mid-term election coming up this year, if you expect Obama to be able to do anything your going to have to find some Senators/Reps to agree with him and that is going to be a challenge in the current economic climate.


They need a ton of money so crowdfunding might not get them where they want to go but maybe start small, get small companies to place orders to put these in their parking lots and private roads and get the word out. I personally can't wait for driverless cars and am all for clean, renewable energy. I think the major issue with these things is the all or nothing approach well if it's a good idea take up the cause and make it work on a small scale if you can. There operation sounds small and they don't have manufacturing but out here in the Midwest if you want to start up a plant there are tax incentives, the issue is building your plant here and then finding the right markets to test this in to get it going.



EDIT: I just read up on the website how the Indigogo campaign works, I am not sure if they are going to make their goal in that time frame, I would donate to the campaign but my contribution is going to be small.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I would suggest that they go sit in Google's lobby and preach the benefits of funding their efforts (buyout?) and then pushing this as the Google Agenda: Smart Roads, Gigabit Fiber/Wifi, Smart Driverless cars.

Google is the probably the only company that this benefits 100% with their current goals in mind.

Google was even working on some sort of battery tech some while back. I would have to look it up again, but I'm sure they could combine a lot of their projects into this effort and start with their Google Complex as a test ground and build outward (with minimal startup cost to the 1st host city).

The only way I see this catching on, outside of a full government backing is a Giant Conglomerate tech company footing the bill with their agenda pushing behind it. If Google wants to "run" the country by advancing our tech... I don't see a quicker way to make that happen than to take over the internet, the roads and the power and then free us up to use more internet by not having to participate in driving.
They would honestly be considered a savior for breaking out need to pay these ridiculous gas prices that are only going to get worse. It would also paridly expand their Google Maps/Traffic GPS usage as the roads report on congestion themselves and with the LED's on the road can redirect traffic for detours and communicate with your personal in car GPS (Navi or cell) to give updates and what not.

This would be right up Google's alley, and assuming it's all legit, I could only hope they already have had an eye on it.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

According to their website they already got a pretty big grant to build a prototype their funding they are asking for now is for manufacturing startup costs from what it sounds like. I have a sister in Sandpoint ID I shared the video with.



Also this was an interesting fact

While we found no evidence that moonlight or the light from shining stars at night produce energy in solar panels (a common question), we found that headlights did. Although it would be very difficult to measure accurately due to distance, speed, hi/low beams, etc., we found that a small solar panel placed flat on the ground about 10 feet in front of a vehicle with its high beams on produced electricity in otherwise total darkness. So it appears that vehicles driving on the surface at night will be providing a service as well as reaping the benefits.

[BranDonk Kong]

BnM bypass the government altogether, this is a good idea then let's make it happen.

Yeah that's not even remotely possible.

[BlackNMild2k1]

BnM bypass the government altogether, this is a good idea then let's make it happen.

Yeah that's not even remotely possible.

Certainly not when it comes to replacing all public access roads, power and communication lines, along with water channeling and whatnot. you will need the government involved, and have them contract your company to maintain, monitor, update and upgrade the equipment.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

BnM bypass the government altogether, this is a good idea then let's make it happen.

Yeah that's not even remotely possible.

Certainly not when it comes to replacing all public access roads, power and communication lines, along with water channeling and whatnot. you will need the government involved, and have them contract your company to maintain, monitor, update and upgrade the equipment.

I meant don't sit around and wait for them to decide to do something. There are private roads and parking lots too. Also they said on their site they already have a contract with some government highway agency already.

[BlackNMild2k1]

As much as I'd like to be the advocate for change and improvement, that's not really my thing.
I have more than enough on my plate already that I push to the side, don't think I need another...

I'll be more than happy to support it, but I can't be in the trenches pushing it.
I got mouths to feed man. as in more than 1.

[nickmitch]

This idea is super cool, but -excuse me for playing devil's advocate- how practical is it?  I mean, somewhere like NYC where there's constant traffic, how well will paving the roads in solar panels work?  In places like where I'm from, New Orleans, you couldn't do this at all because of the pot holes.  And filling them in doesn't stop new ones from forming constantly.  You can line highways and interstates, sure.  But the cost and time consumption would insane.  It takes years for any highway improvements to get done, I couldn't imagine how long this would take.

[BlackNMild2k1]

No one said it would be easy, but he benefits of this or something really similar to it, easily out weigh the cost (in the long run and the BIG picture).

Rooftops, parking lots, side walks, neighborhood streets, intersections. There are lots of places they need to adapt this kind of tech too. And the more they do it, the cheaper it becomes. I also assume that since these will be set on some sort of foundation, put holes will either happen less frequently or be able to be fixed easier and quicker, especially with the system being able to report on itself for upkeep.
Displaced panels would probably set off an alarm at control to be adjusted or replaced.

[nickmitch]

You can't stop the ground from sinking, which causes some potholes.  I'm also stuck wondering what the safety hazards associated with broken solar panels are. 

And "easily outweigh the cost in the long run" is one of those things that cool to say until you really think about the scale.  We're talking about something that could take decades before the savings start rolling in.

[BlackNMild2k1]

How much is energy independence worth?
What would be our advantages to not having to occupy or even care about places like the middle east because of oil.
What is it worth to never be short on energy as long as the sun shines.
Global warming.... melting of the various ice caps, no more drilling, etc etc

Someone's gotta make the first move and we gotta start somewhere. All that military sending protecting foreign oil interest could be much better spent here at home.

[NWR_insanolord]

In many parts of the U.S., including where I am, I have to think the amount of snow we get would screw this up. Even forgetting the effect temperature swings could have on the components, all the panels would be under ice and snow for large chunks of the year.

[BlackNMild2k1]

It has a heating element to melt snow, and then it also collects and funnels the water.

Those issues have already been addressed. Clear roads for the most part. The only thing I didn't see specifically addressed in the video was potholes, even though they can replace panels fairly quickly with the right tools, I'm not sure how they would address it outside of the entire road being in a framework/foundation.

[ShyGuy]

The right way to get this started is target high end home owners and business. Convert driveways, parking lots, campus roads, and more. Talk Ed Begley Jr. into redoing his driveway. Get Google to redo their campus roads.

[ShyGuy]

Ha, I see these guys are in Sandpoint Idaho. I could drive over there in two hours and ask for a demo.