hi everyone! i'm sirikit and i am tai. in this video we are going to talk about the feasibility of solar roads which is a potential road of the future. so what are solar roads? they are road surfaces layered with solar panels that generate electricity and feed it to the grid. can you imagine if the road right outside your house could generate enough electricity to power your entire neighborhood? well guess what? it's already a reality in some countries. countries such as france,
Solar Panel Roads, netherlands and the usa already have a working prototype of solar roads. the main problem with solar energy generation is that, it requires a lot of area, but think about it. what else covers a lot of area and gets plenty of sun? roads!! wouldn't it be great if we could generate electricity from the roads while simultaneously reducing the greenhouse effect?
let's have a look at the solar road in krommenie in north holland. netherlands a country full of cycling and clean energy enthusiasts, with 17 million people and 18 million bicycles have constructed a solar bike path. it was developed by a consortium consisting of the province of north-holland tno, an organization for applied scientific research, ooms civil, a construction company and imtech, a technical service provider. the 70 meter bicycle path consists of solar panels that are sandwiched between glass, silicon rubber and concrete. the top layer is a one centimeter thick translucent tempered glass. it lets in sunlight, repels dirt and is skid-resistant. underneath this layer lies the crystalline silicon solar cells. the panels work individually and are all connected to the smart meter which optimizes their output. it also channels the electricity produced into the grid or powers the road's lighting, traffic signals and signage.
in its first six months, solar road generated three thousand kilowatt hours which is enough to power up a single person household for a year. but as you can see in the graph, the energy production of the road gradually increased and exceeded the expectations of its makers. the output in the first six months translate to an annual yield of more than 70 kilowatt hours per square kilometre per year while lab tests showed 50 kilowatt hours to be the average annual yield. by the end of its first year, the bike path generated 9800 kilowatt hours of electricity enough to power three households for a year! the construction of the solar road cost an estimated 3.7 million dollars which seems like an expensive way to generate a small amount of electricity. however, most of this cost seems to have gone into r&d for the prototype and so the next solar bike path shouldn't cost as much.
the road has an estimated lifespan of 20 years but has an expected payback period of 15 years after which there will be a return on investment. so let's crunch some numbers. solar costs merely two dollars per watt in the netherlands. the initial investment of 3.7 million dollars could have bought 1.8 megawatts of solar. which in a six-month period could have generated five hundred and twenty thousand kilowatt hours of electricity. with that much electricity, 173 houses could have been power instead of one. similarly, if an equivalent area of solar panels were installed on rooftops, it could have generated 4,600 kilowatt hours in a six-month period. that is 50% higher than what the solar bike path generates in the same time.
critics also point out that a flat solar panel reduces the efficiency by thirty percent. while solar roof panels have a typical efficiency of ten to twenty percent the solar bike path only has an efficiency of eight point six percent. this is also perhaps because of the cyclist that cast a shadow on the panels. however, the developers believe that the large surface area will make up for the difference. another interesting byproduct of a future with solar road is the inevitable rise of the electric vehicle. once solar roads prove to be a viable source of uniform electricity generation the makers plan to introduce inductive power transfer (ipt) charging through the roads. ipt is a contactless power transfer system.
researchers calculated the prospects of an ipt system for the solar bike path and they found that with an estimated energy yield of ten thousand kilowatt hours per year the solar bike path could charge twenty-five thousand six hundred and seventy five e-bikes in a single year. as proof of concept, the results are reassuring the bike path can withstand the weight and the weather and it is generating electricity. so what seems to be the problem? the high price tag and the current limitations of the project. but does that mean this idea should be completely discarded? absolutely not. renewable energy projects like these pave the way to further discussion and more such projects that intend to build a greener future.
the success of this prototype shows that there is a future in building infrastructure that promotes a more sustainable society. let's move on to the us solar roadways project. you might have watched the viral video solar freakin' roadways which has 22 million views on youtube. thousands of people donated an estimated amount of over two million dollars to its fundraising campaign. because they believe this will be the road of the future not just that the us department of transportation has so far provided 1.6 million dollars as funding for the project. the solar roadways doesn't just intend to generate electricity through the solar panels on the road. they plan to make a positive environmental impact and transform the current transportation system.
it has a special solar panel that claims many exciting features such as providing led lights to signal the driver and can be used to display road lights instead of paint. solar roadways panels can also melt snow and ice during the winter and have visibility during daytime. this is quite a big business because slippery roads and low visibility during winters cost an estimated amount of 3.7 billion dollars to the us each year. the panels also claim to have motion detection to protect animals and can alert the driver if there are any accidents ahead. let's look at the design of this special solar panel to see how it's gonna do all of these. this sr solar panel has a hexagonal design with three layers. the top layer is made up iron float glass.
it can withstand various weather conditions - hot, cold, rain and snow. it also provides strength for vehicles to drive on and it has an internal heating system in order to melt snow and ice. last but not least, it is transparent so the sunlight can pass through for the solar cell right under to generate electricity. the middle layer contains electronic elements, microprocessor, circuits, cables and interconnection to control the expected functions. finally the bottom layer is used for supporting entire structure resting upon the ground surface. recycle glass forms ten percent of the base and the internal support structures are made of recycled plastics. the sr panels have an efficiency of
18.5 percent. if the panel is installed in each and every road surface in america including parking lots, driveways, playground which spans a total area of about 33,000 square miles, it will generate three times the total us electricity usage. but let's talk about money. if solar roadways becomes a reality for entire us, it will generate 14 billion kilowatt hour of electricity per year. so if the electricity price is ten cents per kilowatt hour it makes 1.4 billion dollars per year. to install the solar panel everywhere in the us, it will cost fifty six trillion dollars so 56 trillion divided by 1.4 billion that the road gives us every year,
this means we need 40 thousand years to pay back for the initial cost. however, the amazing solar panel is only expected to operate for 30 years. the future of this road looks ridiculously impossible for the current price of this technology. it's worth mentioning that these calculations do not take into account the multitude of other functionalities that the solar roadway makers promise. snow melting, making road painting obsolete, animal protection, electric vehicle charging and so much more. on top of that it would be reducing our dependency on fossil fuels and consequently reduce the greenhouse effect. these innovative ventures into clean and sustainable energy generation are only trying to make the world a better place.
but is it the solution to go with at the moment. if money was not an issue, it would be a great idea. but money is a big issue and so the people who are dreaming about harnessing power through solar roads might have to put their dreams to wait for the moment. so what could be the solution to energy generation and the current state of transportation? well elon musk's hyperloop is one such example that combines solar energy and transportation. hyperloop is a high-speed transportation system that uses the concept of pneumatic tubes. a pod-like vehicle is propelled inside a vacuum tube at high speeds using linear accelerators. designed to be four point two five meter wide and 563 kilometer long, the solar panels on top of the hyperloop could generate 285 megawatts during peak solar activity.
the solar arrays are expected to cost 210 million dollars. another innovation that combines solar power and transportation is solar panel covered shaded structure in south korea. the structure is a bike path running through the middle of the highway from daejeon to sejong city. it provides shade to the cyclists while simultaneously generating clean energy. the 400 solar panels lying on top of the structure generate six thousand kilowatt hours of electricity per day that is equivalent to the amount of energy powering six hundred households per day. with the growth of solar energy industry, many innovative ideas of solar energy generation will be created. some ideas are cost-effective and efficient, some are not. nonetheless all ideas lead to advantage in solar technology which will consequently lower our dependency on non-renewable resources and mark a complete shift to clean and sustainable energy generation.
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