Green Energy

This sort of solution is, in reality, just another way for us not to address the root of the problem, which is that car-centric infrastructure is orders of magnitude worse for the environment and even just global warming than whatever benefit solar roadway roofs could provide.

• Cars today mostly burn fossil fuels. EVs are better but are having slow adoption and are still quite energy-inefficient compared to e.g electrified public transit.
• The cars have to have a bunch more energy dumped into them for procuring and assembling the materials compared to public transit.
• Car-centric planning means extremely space-inefficient, sprawling design, resulting in the removal of natural ecosystems that help fight global warming through carbon capture.
• The amount of energy that goes into building such massive parking lots and extensive road networks to accommodate car-centrism has to be unfathomable.
• Car centrism physically makes things more distant from each other, meaning not only is the transit medium itself less energy-efficient over the same distance, but travel distances are much longer.
• There can still be rooftops over above-ground public transit infrastructure, and even a fraction of the space saved on sprawling design could be used for solar farms.

TL;DR: !fuckcars@lemmy.world

This is one of those ideas that's just constantly claimed and constantly rebuked as unrealistic and not feasible

No no NO no No nO NO. This has been trotted out so many times and every time it fails.

1. Embedded panels do not work it has been tested, even light traffic damages and reduces their absorption capacity.

2. Raised panels do not work in large areas because the oily dirt from the road reduces absorption and requires constant maintenance.

3. Large amounts of valuable equipment easily accessible on the side of the road becomes targets for thieves.

So much human time and energy is wasted on failed ideas.

explores the potential to install solar panels above highways and major roads.

Oh thank god they use that option not replace the road with those horrid solar cells that underperformed in every test.

So long as they're not trying to put solar panels literally in the road but instead as coverage above the road (blocking rain, snow, sun, etc.) then that sounds great.

This just in: deserts and parking lots exist and aren't swarmed by high speed traffic.

The world at large? Sure.

The US? Fuck no commie eco fascist! That's public money we could be throwing at Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Boeing!

I mean. That's dirt cheap in the grand scheme of things.