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PlentyCommission166 t1_jd8npk4 wrote

I am absolutely baffled why the southwest states don't cover their roads in shaded lanes made of solar panels. It's a win win for drivers in that baked hellscape.

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piratecheese13 t1_jd98qlg wrote

Step 1: during the time that we really did need gasoline, gas companies spent a lot of money, knowingly lying.

Step 2: when you cultivate a group of people who believe lies, they become galvanized against the truth

Step 3: the people who are most easily convinced of these lies are the also the kind of people who believe the world should never change. These are the people who believe you can get back to five cents a gallon. These the people it’s hardest to convince that solar panels are no longer full of super Duper unrecyclable poison.

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ralphy1010 t1_jdaefd2 wrote

no, now it's they just think the solar looks ugly and that is their reason for not wanting it. Or windmills kill birds as if they suddenly care about birds.

The reality is most of the baby boomers are simply being selfish and trying to take as much as they can up to the very last moment of their lives. They truly don't care what happens after they are gone as long as their gas is cheap and the market is good enough to supplement the pathetic amount of money they set aside for their retirements. They've learned nothing from the last 50 years of history so there is no reason to expect them to change now.

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SemaphoreBingo t1_jd8yy0c wrote

> I am absolutely baffled why the southwest states don't cover their roads in shaded lanes made of solar panels

Ideology.

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im_a_zoe t1_jd8oh9q wrote

Solar panels lose efficiency at high temperatures, the dry environment creates a lot of dust which requires near constant cleaning of panels, and the spread-out nature of infrastructure in the southwest would drive up transmission and maintenance costs as well.

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monsterscallinghome t1_jdacoau wrote

Fuck, just the parking lots could make a massive difference. And people would stop getting 3rd degree burns from their steering wheels.

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toodrinkmin t1_jdcp8f6 wrote

I recently moved from Arizona, and this has been becoming a thing more and more in recent years down there.

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SkiingAway t1_jdazaav wrote

Because it's a pretty terrible idea when you've got a fuckton of empty land to work with, and virtually nowhere does it make sense unless you wanted to build a canopy anyway.

You're introducing large additional costs and complexity for no reason.

  • An overhead structure is a lot of additional....structure, that you didn't need vs just....putting the things on/near the ground.

  • $ to build.

  • $ to maintain - structure has to be maintained, crews working on the structure or panels now need to care about fall protection, traffic, access, you'll have lots of lane closures for structure work, and so on.

  • Increased safety risks

  • Your overhead structure has to be supported. Which means support posts. Line the interstate with phone poles every 50ft and you'll have a lot more crash deaths. (small) road signs + light posts are designed to breakaway because they're not supporting anything - can't do that with a structure.

  • Increased damage/failure rates

  • now you've got car crashes regularly damaging sections of your overhead structure. You see how fucked up guardrails get, imagine if each one of those crashes took out some big overhead structure that collapsed on top of the roadway and cars.

  • Road debris and pollution will collect on the panels and reduce efficiency.

  • If you're doing it anywhere populated, now any taller buildings/new development going up in the future are likely going to slash output on nearby sections of panels.

Etc.

If you want economically efficient power, it should look like this: Luz del Norte. Anything else is wasting money and efficiency for no reason. Especially not in a world where we can't produce enough solar panels to meet demand - which means they should be getting installed in the most optimal sites with the highest production efficiency first.

Or watch the video of construction (spanish but you don't really need the words): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e9jj0d43w0

And compare the low complexity of doing that vs the complexity of trying to build vast overhead structures over roadways.

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GrowFreeFood t1_jd9inum wrote

I suggested this the other day and someone said it was the dumbest idea they ever heard. People's brains are bad

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rectumish t1_jd9xjnl wrote

they could have given you a polite explanation.

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rectumish t1_jd9xe1g wrote

Believe it or not it can get too hot to generate solar power with our existing technology.

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liteagilid t1_jda87cv wrote

That or just cover that part of New Mexico where they tested atom bombs. Could power every city from Denver west

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MapoTofuWithRice t1_jd8x7xm wrote

Building things over highways is expensive and performing maintenance on delicate electrical equipment over a highway is especially so.

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