Ive seen this idea floating around, and while I love the idea, the commercial realist in me tells me it probably wouldnt pass a cost/benefit analysis. Itd be astronomically expensive to pave the roadways with solar panels. The maintenance too, might be more than we can bear. I know thereve been huge advances in photo-voltaic cells (solar cells), but Id be surprised if they ever surpassed solar thermal generators (solar fed steam engines) due to the lower cost of mirrors and the inherently higher efficiency of heat engines. Ill defer to an engineer on the thermodynamic efficiency question though… Edit: Owen Saddler pulled me up that PVCs might have a brighter future than steam engines. The former has a theoretical maximum efficiency of 86% (noting the baseline entropy of photons leaving the sun) vs a theoretical maximum efficiency for steam engines in the 70s (noting that light has to make a pitstop as heat before electricity conversion). In both cases, these maximums are not met, with solar thermal steam engine conversion efficiency of about 41% and PVC of about 30% (but with higher upside with continued research).
Posted on: Sat, 24 May 2014 02:01:18 +0000
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