Eclipse Now Posted July 26, 2011 Report Share Posted July 26, 2011 Hi all,I've met many interesting and creative energy solutions for global warming, but this one must be out there in whacko land. Welcome to Solar Highways! Now, I'm no engineer, but even I just thought... "What the...?" and left the following comment. ***********Are you trying to bankrupt America? “Although it would be expensive” is the understatement of the century! Do the math on what they are suggesting:$6900 * 5 billion = $34.5 TRILLION dollars, or half of the annual GLOBAL economy! And then you still haven’t factored in this terribly inconvenient thing we call night time. Gen3 nukes like the AP1000 could offer safe reliable baseload power now, and they work at 100% all day every day, even through the horrors of NIGHT TIME! The waste from Gen3 nukes can then be fed into the IFR’s or Gen4 nukes when they arrive. We already have the technology to beat global warming, and don’t need to fund the hair-brained schemes of venture capitalists trying to find bizarre new markets for their products. Honestly, they’re going to take the most expensive form of electricity we have — Solar PV — and put it down UNDER cars, in the shade, in car parks? Huh? Did someone just slip something interesting in my coffee, or is this just insane? (No wonder he starts his talk by having a go at sensible, real world engineers leaving derogatory comments on his crack-pot idea). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAHD Posted July 26, 2011 Report Share Posted July 26, 2011 Not the worst idea in the world: most highways are little-traveled and have the electric grid right next to them as-is. I agree that nuke-power is a fairly viable option, but the issue with that is zoning: no one wants a reactor in their back yard. People don't understand radiation and nuclear physics; what they don't understand they fear. I'd like to see all mass-transit running off mini-nukes(re: nuclear batteries). A man can dream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eclipse Now Posted July 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2011 Hi,just interested – you seen any figures estimating how much it would cost to get America off oil and onto electric transport? (Nuclear powered as well, let's shut down the coal). Just from googling around (and not being very technical myself) I came up with a figure of $1 trillion to get off coal. (Based on replacing about 320 gigawatts of electricity from coal... about half your electricity?) You guys have a terrible financial problem with debt, and it seems to me that you need to spend more to get yourselves out of debt. I am, of course, referring to the fact that you import $0.6 trillion dollars worth of oil a year, or $6 trillion a decade. That will only go up as peak oil begins to bite over this decade. If the cost of oil doubles it could easily be that you're importing $1 trillion. No, strike that. The cost won't double, recession will just take over. The world economy does not appear willing to live with over $100 a barrel oil and so just stops doing stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilehed Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 Whoever came up with THAT idea must be smokin' the good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qfwfq Posted November 2, 2011 Report Share Posted November 2, 2011 No doubt photovoltaic is expensive, and these folks want to stick it under car tyres?Pure genius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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